On Kindness
by butterfloofies
Summary: Brick comes back to Townsville after 10 years. He's matured a bit, grown calmer and smarter, but that's still not enough for the PPGs. Title subject to change.
1. Chapter 1

**Okay so this is a Powerpuff fanfic, but I'm sure you've figured that out already. It'll probably be somewhat long-ish. I thought I'd give a shot at this. Quick overview: PPG grow up and meet Brick in high school. **

**You might wanna stay away if you're allergic to dairy, because this story will have a decent amount of cheese. Get it? HARDY HAR HAR **

**Excuse me. And I'm sorry if this is really cliche or excruciatingly painful. **

**Disclaimer: PPG doesn't belong to me, etc. **

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><p>Brick walked slowly down the halls, taking his sweet time. The bell had just rung, and students were scrambling into class to avoid detentions. There weren't many things that intimidated Brick, and being the new transfer halfway through sophomore year definitely wasn't one of them, but it wasn't a great situation to be in anyway. He didn't want to be here. Actually, thinking about it, he should've picked somewhere else to go.<p>

But he was back. Back home (could he really call this home?) to the place where he had been born (for lack of a better word). This town hadn't seen his face for… what? 10 years? Ever since Him decided to move their little "family" to another town so that Him, having grown tired of the Powerpuff Girls, could continue his evildoing elsewhere. The boys had actively helped commit crimes, but as time dragged on, the action slowed, and everyone and everything settled down. Him started home schooling the boys, and they almost became a somewhat normal family– almost. There were, occasionally, reports of stolen goods, including a game console, a few video games and whatnot.

A few months ago though, Him decided that home schooling wasn't enough because "evil didn't make a much of a profit anymore these days and you boys need a back up plan" and announced that the boys were to be sent to school for a formal education. After a few rounds of complaining, Butch eventually chose/was forced to go to a military academy. Boomer opted to attend the nearby high school so he could continue lessons for his newfound talent– the drums. Brick… well, Brick didn't want to stay in that town, so the first place that came to mind was Townsville. Him's last words to boys before they set off had been "Don't cause too much trouble. Oh who am I kidding? Just don't get me called to the principal's office too many times."

The hallways had emptied before Brick reached the door of his first period. He glanced at the room number– 203. _Please don't let these next years suck_, Brick prayed, and opened the door.

"You're late, Mr…?" the teacher lifted a questioning eyebrow.

"Name's Brick. And I got lost," Brick had had that excuse long prepared.

"Well then. Brick, I'm Mr. Somers. Class, this is Brick, the transfer student. Brick, please take that empty seat over there." Brick took his seat just as the teacher launched into a lecture on World War I. Brick tried to pay attention, but that plan failed when he realized he'd already learned everything. _Formal education my ass. Home schooling was way better. _Brick was ready to be bored out of his mind when he suddenly sensed someone watching him. He snapped his head up to see a redhead a couple desks away stealing glances at him. When Brick made eye contact with her, she glared at him instead of turning away. Brick took this as a challenge. But her glare, her red hair, and her obnoxiously large bow all seemed so oddly familiar. Where had he seen her before? Brick furrowed his brow, digging into the depths of his memory.

"Blossom, what is unrestricted submarine warfare and how did it affect the United States' decision to enter World War I?" the teacher asked, and the redhead was forced to turn around.

_Blossom! That's her name! The mean bitch that led around those girls called… called… the Powerpuff Girls! God what a stupid name. _Brick began a mental tirade against the stupid Powerpuff Girls who had beaten him and his brothers up, as shameful as it was to admit it, so many years ago.

Brick was still deep in thought when the bell rang, and it was Mr. Somers' voice that made him snap to attention, "Brick, I'd like to talk to you. Just to see how you're doing." As Brick made his way to the teacher's desk, he noticed the red one lingering behind. A blonde girl whispered something to her and dragged her out. "So, Brick, I hope you followed today's lecture alright. Nothing too hard?"

"Yes, sir" was the apathetic reply.

"Well, then. Here are the worksheets for this unit. You are read pages 265 to 301 and complete worksheets one to six. It's more homework than I usually give, but we must get you caught up with the other students, of course."

"Of course, sir."

"Good, good. You may leave. Here's a slip for your next period teacher."

With a "thank you, sir" and a nod of his head, Brick took his leave. _What an oddly polite boy_, reflected Mr. Somers.

Brick exited the class and was about to look at his schedule for his next period room number, when a cold voice caught his attention, "And what are you doing back here?" Without even looking at the speaker, Brick could sense the annoyance in her voice. Narrowing his eyes, he finally turned to meet her.

"I have a better question: what are _you_ doing here? Doesn't Miss Goody-Two-Shoes have a class to get to?" he retorted.

"This isn't about me. Now answer the question," she ordered, getting more annoyed.

"Tsk tsk. You're going be late. I, on the other hand, have a slip. When did you become such a rule-breaker?" Brick made sure sarcasm was etched into every word.

"When it's worth the cause. You still haven't answered me."

"Fine, I'll give you an answer. I came back because I wanted to attend school here."

"Don't lie to me! The only thing you and your brothers ever wanted was to cause trouble!"

"Blossom," a soft voice called out. Brick looked up to see the blonde girl from earlier standing there. Had she been there the whole time? Brick, who prided himself in his super senses, was ashamed to admit he hadn't even noticed her. Her big blue eyes looked scared, but her voice was firm, "Let's go Blossom, before we start attracting attention. And we're going to be late."

"But Bubbles—" Wait, wasn't the name of the other Powerpuff?

"Come on, Blossom. _Please._"

"Fine." The redhead turned to Brick. "This doesn't mean I'm done talking to you." She turned around and stalked off in the opposite direction. The blue girl picked up her stuff, glanced at Brick, and followed after her sister.

"Why didn't I pick somewhere else?" Brick muttered to himself, as he rubbed his temples to soothe his Powerpuff-induced headache.

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><p><strong>Wow! You made it through. Congrats.<strong>

**Anyway, thanks for reading! Feel free to make a suggestion, comment, criticism, insult, etc. :D**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hey again! Thanks for the reviews! It's nice to know someone actually reads this :3**

**This chapter is kinda ehh.. it's really just saying how Brick's life continues. It'll get more exciting next chapter (hopefully _)**

**Disclaimer: I don't own PPG, or Brick D:**

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><p>It hadn't been a good day for Brick. In his second period, he'd met the third Powerpuff, the really angry, explosive one. The trouble had begun when the teacher announced they would be doing a lab. "Buttercup, since Mitch is absent today, why don't you pair up with Brick?" suggested Mrs. Moore, the chemistry teacher. Buttercup, as in the third Powerpuff, Buttercup. And she'd gotten a lot angrier looking since Brick had last seen her. From the looks of her muscles, a punch from her might actually hurt.<p>

"You're the Rowdyruff Boys leader, aren't you?" she asked him warily as they walked toward their lab table.

"So what if I am?" Brick was really getting annoyed with his luck.

"Did you and your brothers miss getting your asses pounded? Or is there another reason you're back?"

"As I told your sister, I came to attend this school."

"And you expect me to believe that? Whatever, just don't screw this up."

"Ha! I already did this lab at home a few months ago! How about _you_ don't screw up.

"Oh we'll see who's the screw-up." The two began the lab, speaking only when absolutely necessary and glaring occasionally at each other. Each took particular trouble to make sure the measurements were exact to the last decimal.

"0.5% error?" yelled Buttercup after they finished the lab. "You totally screwed up! I told you you weren't using enough water!"

"Are you kidding me? You're blaming me? You used too much acid!" Brick shot back.

"Oh I'll show you too much acid!" Buttercup picked up a bottle labeled "hydrochloric acid" and aimed for Brick, but–

"Buttercup! Brick!" shouted Mrs. Moore. "Put that down Buttercup! How many times do I need to remind you that the lab is not a fighting arena? Detention! As for you Brick, since you're new and obviously not used to following rules, I will let you off with a warning. But let this happen again, and you will both find yourselves in double detention!" The bell rang just as Mrs. Moore finished reprimanding them, and the rest of the class scurried out in case something (Buttercup's temper) were to explode. Buttercup gave Brick one last glare before storming out of the room.

– – –

School was finally over, and Brick let out a sigh of relief. What with one Powerpuff shooting him death glares in fourth period and the other eying him suspiciously in fifth, Brick was amazed he hadn't been killed already. Normally he'd have eyebeamed them, but frankly he couldn't take on all three of them alone (as much as it pained him to admit it). And it would probably result in Him in the principal's office. A Him in the principal's office was an unhappy Him and an unhappy Him– well, Brick didn't want to think about it.

What he really needed was caffeine. Brick flew up to get a bird's eye of the town. Not much had changed over the years. Same old skyscrapers, same old preschool, even same old mayor's office. With his supervision, Brick could see the stupid old mayor scurrying about over some minor, unimportant issue as Ms. Bellum tried to calm him down.

Finally Brick found a cafe. Landing on the bough of a nearby tree, Brick waited for his prey. Luckily for him, a man walked out, holding what seemed to be a white chocolate frappe. Brick would've preferred it with whipped cream, but he wasn't really in a position to be picky. He broke a branch from the tree, threw it to ground, dove down while the man was distracted, grabbed the coffee, and flew away before the poor man even realized his coffee was gone. Satisfied with himself, Brick floated down to a nearby bench and sipped his prize.

"I saw that," a voice addressed him. Brick looked up to see the blue Powerpuff walking towards him. She was sporting her two trademark pigtails, which made her look like a fifth grader. How old did she think she was?

"You gonna do something 'bout it?" Brick challenged.

"You should pay him back, you know," she spoke softly.

"But I won't. Now will you do something about it or not?" Brick hovered in the air, taking a defensive position. Suddenly, Bubbles sent a beam at his head, but Brick ducked ever-so-slightly and dodged the beam. Taking pride in his reflexes, he gloated, "Ha! Missed m–" as a tree branch hit his head. Taking advantage of the distraction, Bubbles flew at him and managed to pickpocket his wallet.

"Wasn't aiming for you," she smiled as she took a few bills from his wallet. "Just a little something-something Buttercup taught me. I didn't think it'd come in handy." A stunned Brick watched as she flew over to the man and handed him the bills. After the man had walked away, Bubbles gave Brick an innocent smile and flew off.

Realizing he had spilled coffee over him and that he had just been bested by the weak-looking Powerpuff, Brick flew off, fuming. "Fucking Powerpuff girls, fucking coffee, fucking innocent-looking bitches," Brick had muttered the whole way. He arrived at home, kicked open the gate, punched a few walls, and scared off the neighbor's cat before entering his house.

The house had actually been bought long ago in case Him ever decided to move back to Townsville. Since they never did, it had been empty for a long time. It was a roomy, single story home, made even roomier by that fact that it had only one inhabitant. Him did, however, love to spoil his boys, and had furnished the house with a 60" flat screen TV, remodeled the bedroom, added a swimming pool, and built a home gym just to make sure Brick was comfortable. Whether all these renovations had been obtained legally or not was debatable.

It was to his home gym that Brick was headed, because boy did he need to punch something! It was smart of Him to have a state-of-the-art punching bag, custom designed for Brick to absorb maximum impact while taking minimal damage, installed. Or else a few neighborhoods may have been damaged.

After an hour or so of punching, sweating, and general stress relief, Brick was interrupted by a phone call. "Speak."

"Hey what up? Brickster? How're ya doing?" the voice from the other end asked. It was lucky that Brick had calmed down, or else he might have crushed the phone upon hearing that voice.

"What do you want?"

"Aww Brickie, you're not still mad about that, are ya?"

"Butch you motherfucker. Of course I'm still mad! It was signed by Eminem! When you get me another poster with his signature on it, I'll consider not beating you to a pulp every time I see you."

"Well Brick, I'm just checking up on ya– Him's orders. Daddy's a little busy right now."

"I'm fine. Are we done now?" Before Butch could reply, a series of beeps was heard over the phone.

"No, because Boomer wants in," Butch said.

"What's up, my brothers?" Boomer's happy voice rang in their ears.

"Not much man," replied Brick. "How're you doing?"

"Oh it's pretty good, bro. And guess what? I'm in a band now, bitches!"

"Not bad, Boomer. Don't choke on stage," Butch teased.

"What about you Butch? How's the military life suiting you?"

"Oh God, don't get me started," Butch whined. "I have to wake up at 5! 5! In the morning! And they make us do so many chores!"

"Quit your whining. You deserve it," Brick's pitiless voice snapped at Butch.

"He's still mad, huh?" Boomer asked.

"Furious."

"Oh yeah, Brick," Boomer suddenly said, "I wanted to ask you, how's Townsville been? Did ya meet our 'best friends'?"

"If by 'best friends' you mean the three bitches who used to bother us all the time, then yes, yes I did. All three of them, one by one."

"Give 'em a good punch for me, eh Brick? For old times sake," Butch asked.

"I will give_ you_ a good punch. For my poster's sake," Brick growled at Butch.

"And he's _still_ touchy about that. Well I gotta go. My break time's almost over. Later," Butch hung up.

"I'm gonna go too. I have to get ready for practice. See ya, Brick, and uh…good luck dealing with the girls," Boomer said before hanging up as well.

Brick sighed. Good luck was exactly what he needed if he wanted to make it out of high school with his sanity intact.

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><p><strong>I'm really sorry if I led anyone on, but this isn't gonna be a Reds fanfic. Just an FYI.<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**Just a heads up, I've never tried out for track, so I don't know how those tryouts actually work. So this is really just my imagination and guesswork here.**

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><p>Brick flew slowly to school, dreading another boring day. He landed at the back of school, and was dusting off his clothes, when one of the last voices he wanted to hear called to him, "Hey, don't think you're getting away this time!" Brick turned around to face Blossom, who to Brick's disgust, was still wearing that obnoxiously large red bow.<p>

"What?" Brick replied impatiently, eager to just get the conversation over with.

"I want an answer! What are you doing back here?"

"Oh my God! Are you stupid? I fucking told you! I'm just going to school here! I haven't even done anything bad!"

"Except steal a man's coffee," interrupted Bubbles, suddenly appearing behind him. Fuck. This was embarrassing. After she totally made a fool out of him, Brick didn't really want to face her.

"And nothing else. You can't hold anything against me. Now, if you're done wasting my time, I'm leaving," Brick snapped at them as he stomped away. Brick made his way through the halls to his next class, anger emanating from him in waves that forced students to create a path for him.

Suddenly a poster caught Brick's attention. "Track tryouts today after school! Come on out to the field!" Track huh? Brick was a great runner– fastest than his brothers. Maybe a sport would make things at this dreary school a bit better. And he'd be able to show these idiots at this school what real running looked like.

It was this single thought that helped make this day more bearable for Brick. When school ended, Brick made his way toward the track field. He noticed a few other sports practicing, and after taking a look at their plays, decided that he could do better at any sport than any of these normal people could. Next to the track tryouts were a group of cheerleaders practicing their routine.

"Sam, do you think you could jump just a second later? Then your timing will be perfect with Jenny's. And Jane, don't forget to kick higher, okay? Cindy, good job on the cartwheel! That's exactly how I'd imagined it." Brick recognized that voice. It was the Blue Powerpuff, wearing a cheerleading outfit that emphasized her slim, toned legs. She seemed to be the cheer captain, though she was very soft and kind in her criticisms, preferring to give compliments and positive feedback. As the girls began their routine, Brick's attention was captured by Bubbles. Her moves were very smooth and fluid, reflecting her long hours of practice, and yet they were firm and confident. Brick could even see her huge smile, really befitting for a _cheer_ cartwheeled and backflipped here and there, eventually propelling herself to the top of the pyramid as the routine ended. "Girls! That was amazing! We are so ready for the competition!" her praising voice rang out, as the girls cheered.

Brick suddenly realized that he had been staring stupidly at her. He shook his head a bit and sped up toward the track field. Brick estimated about 50 boys trying out, but he wasn't intimidated. Brick knew he was faster than any of these chumps.

"Settle down!" the coach yelled over the noise. "Now, each of you is here because you want to make it on to the track team. Not all of you will however. It might be because you're slow, you're lazy, you're stupid, or you just piss me off. I will decide whether you're cut for varsity, JV, or frosh. And if you disagree with me, then get the fuck out of my face. Are we clear?" Everyone nodded silently. "Today we'll have tryouts for the 100m, 200m, 400m, 800m, 1500m, and 100m hurdles. If you're not here to try out for those, I'll see you tomorrow." About a third of the students left.

Brick hadn't thought about what he wanted to try out for. 100m probably. 400m? Sure, why not? Hurdles? That'd be pretty easy too. Brick walked over to the sign up line, and after seeing how long it was, decided that he didn't like waiting, so he slipped into the front of the line.

"Hey you can't just–" the boy behind him began to object, but, after a glare from Brick, shut up.

"You there! I don't tolerate behavior like that," the coach had seen Brick and was now walking toward him.

"Well then, you should get used to it," Brick smirked and wrote his name on the list.

"Why don't you take you and your cheeky attitude and get the fuck off my field!" the coach bellowed.

"Whoa! Calm down old man!" Brick laughed. "I haven't been able to show off my extraordinary skills yet."

"You could run like a cheetah and I still wouldn't let you on the team."

"Really coach? You only say that because you think I can't actually run as fast as a cheetah." Brick grinned. "How 'bout this? You can kick me off _and_ give me a month of detention if you want– _after I run_."

"You got that much confidence in yourself? Fine. But if I see anything below extraordinarily exceptional, mark my words, you'll be spending more than just a month in detention."

"Done deal." Brick grinned to himself as he made his way to the 100m line. The other students were slowly gathering around, obviously anticipating a good show. They were going to get a good show all right– it was time to show these slowpokes that Brick was the definition of speed. Brick crouched down, ready to run. He cleared his mind and focused on the finish line. He could see the guy on the other side, making hand motions of ready…set…go!

Brick pushed off with such force that the boys behind him staggered back. He sped to the other side, taking quick, long strides. His feet touched the ground so few times that he was almost flying. In a quick 10.1 seconds, Brick was at the other side. "Damn!" he muttered after seeing the time. "Too slow. I knew I should've worn my other shoes today."

Brick looked up, and a huge smile spread across his face. The crowd had moved toward them, and exclamations of shock, praise, and disbelief could be heard. The coach was gaping at him, completely dumbfounded. "You're- you're barely panting," the coach said.

"Yeah, so?"

"You just ran a 100m in 10.1 and you don't even look tired."

"Thanks for pointing out the obvious." This time, the coach didn't even bother to reprimand Brick for his snarky attitude.

"And this isn't your fastest?" the coach asked eagerly. "You can run faster than this?"

"I just need my other shoes."

"Welcome to the team Brick! Oh we're so winning this year! Hahaha Sterling is going down! Yes yes, Caulfield'll never know what hit him! We'll see who's laughing now!" the coach mumbled to himself, laughing maniacally. Brick ran his hand through his hair. All in a day's work.

While the coach was busy writing his award acceptance speech for when his team would beat Sterling, the neighboring school, many of the other students approached Brick.

"Hey man! That was amazing!"

"Yeah I've never seen anyone run that fast!"

"Welcome to the team man!"

"Are you sure you weren't flying?"

"It wasn't that amazing!"

"Oh shut up! You're just jealous."

"Dude you gotta teach me!"

The commotion drew the attention of the other sports teams. As more students heard the news, they threw out more compliments and congratulations. A few of the other teams even tried to recruit him, begging him to try out for tennis, volleyball, and swimming among a few others. Brick pretended he was considering their offers, but he was really just enjoying basking in his newfound glory. As tryouts continued, Brick ran the 400 and hurdles just to please the people– he already had a secured spot on the team. When the other students ran alongside Brick, even those who were considered fast looked like slowpokes. And Brick didn't even look like he was trying– and he wasn't.

After tryouts ended, Brick was showered with even more praises. The cheerleaders had come over after hearing the news. Many of the girls flocked to his side, batting their lashes and admiring his abilities.

"Wow Brick. I don't much about track, but you're really fast," one girl named Cindy or something complimented him. Brick figured she didn't know much about anything else either.

"Brick, for a runner, you have really nice arms," said another girl, as she leaned her head against his arm.

"Thanks. I try to keep an overall good shape, you know," he said casually.

"Well you're doing a great job," a third girl looked him over lustfully. Ew. She was far from hot.

"Girls, practice isn't over," the cheer captain reminded them as she walked over. The girls whined, begging for an extended break. "Brick, I'd appreciate it if you didn't distract my girls."

"Sorry, can't help it if I just naturally attract the ladies," Brick replied as the other girls giggled.

"I'm amazed you can run that fast supporting an ego as large as yours," she smiled innocently before forcefully ushering the girls back to practice.

What the…? Brick was slightly confused. From what Brick remembered, she was supposed to be the nice, kind, happy Powerpuff. Wasn't she the "everything nice" part of all her sisters? When did she get that sassy attitude and learn to actually toss out an insult?

Well that's one thing that's changed.

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><p><strong>Brick comes out to be a real egotistical and sometimes hot headed jerk here. I hope he gets better :(<strong>


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: I don't own the PPGs.**

**Edit: Much thanks to Hasten for telling about Bubbles being sugar. My bad **

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><p>Wednesday morning. Day number three. Brick was painfully counting the minutes.<p>

Wednesday first period. Blossom was still glaring at him. Talk about obsessed.

Wednesday fourth period. Buttercup had 'accidentally' thrown a textbook at him. This was plain harassment.

Wednesday afternoon. Brick stuck a picture of the Powerpuffs on his punching bag. It was in pieces in less than half an hour.

Thursday morning. Day number four. He was getting closer to the weekend.

Thursday second period. Today Buttercup had 'accidentally' thrown a beaker at him. Brick wondered what she was going to throw tomorrow.

Thursday lunch. He spotted Bubbles feeding pigeons in the courtyard. Now the stupid birds were gonna poop everywhere.

Thursday fifth period. Blossom and the teacher fervently discussed the deeper meanings behind _Macbeth_ for the whole period. Boring.

Thursday after school. Brick almost threw up when he saw Buttercup making out with Mitch. He could understand that their personalities might attract, but still. He couldn't imagine anyone wanting to date her. The guy was probably hiding a number of bruises.

Thursday after that. Brick headed to the second round of track tryouts. Today the coach would be deciding who would be on varsity. Brick didn't really need to attend, but he thought he would grace the other students with his presence.

Thursday evening. Brick painted the Powerpuffs' faces onto his punching bag. It was a decent rendition, in his humble opinion.

Friday morning. Day number five. So close to the weekend. So fucking close.

Friday second period. Buttercup threw a bottle of acid at him. Please. She going to have to get more original if she wanted to surprise him.

Friday third period. Bubbles sang a song in front of the class as extra credit for the French teacher. She had a good voice (Brick grudgingly admitted), but the song sounded really stupid, not that Brick could understand much of it anyway.

Friday afternoon. It was finally the weekend! Brick rushed home and headed toward his kitchen when he suddenly heard rummaging sounds. He flew as quietly as he could toward the kitchen, and in a smooth practiced manner, eyebeamed at the sounds, ran forward, and punched the fool who had enough guts to sneak into _his_ house before the poor guy could even scream. But suddenly Brick realized something.

"BOOMER?" he yelled, stunned.

"Ouch man. That hurt," Boomer sat up, nursing his slightly bruised arm.

"What. The fuck. Are you doing. In my house?" Brick glared at him.

"Technically, it's not your house. Ow ow ow," Boomer whined after Brick had dragged him up by his collar. Boomer took a step back, dusting himself off. "Man, aren't you pissy today?"

Brick sighed. Sometimes, his brother was something else. "So what _are_ you doing here?" he asked after having calmed down a bit.

"Well I got bored at school, so I skipped and I thought I'd come visit you. Since Butch's place is kinda far. Oh yeah, Him sends his best wishes. But when I got here, you weren't home yet, so I thought I'd raid your fridge. That crème brûlée , by the way, was amazing."

"Wait, you ate my fucking crème brûlée?" Brick screamed. It had been a housewarming gift from the old lady next door. Brick had never bothered thanking her for it, so he couldn't really just ask her for more. Besides he didn't want to ask– she might start talking to him about boring old lady stuff.

"Hey man, I'm a guest right? You know? Host offers guest stuff?" Boomer put on a hopeful smile.

"You're an uninvited guest."

"Oh, you're glad to see me. Just admit it." Boomer gave him a playful punch.

"Don't touch me." In fact, Brick was glad to see his brother. It had been a long stressful week, and it was nice to have someone he could talk to. "So, how're things on your end?"

"Great!" Boomer replied. "Guess what? We're performing at the school assembly next week! My band's totally official."

"Hey, that's awesome!" Brick was genuinely proud of his brother.

"So what's up with you?"

"Nothing much, I guess. I'm pretty much on the track team, but I feel like it's not enough."

"So, try out for something else then."

"Like what?"

"Well, I'm actually on the swim team. It's pretty fun. You could try out for that."

"Swimming huh? Try outs are over for that I think."

"Dude, we could get on any team, any time. Supersenses, super skills, remember?" Boomer grinned at him.

Brick laughed. "Yeah, you and me, we could beat any of these losers."

"That's my brother! So, uh, how're you handling those Powerpuffs?"

"Driving me fucking insane. The red one thinks I'm gonna go and destroy this city or something."

"Well, are you?"

"Not the point. The green one's about ready to punch me every time I walk within fifty feet of her."

"She was kinda always like that."

"And blue one suddenly grew a backbone or something. What happened to her being 'everything nice'?"

"Really? I'd always thought she was 'sugar.' I'm pretty sure the red one's 'everything nice.'"

"Does it fucking matter? None of them are 'sugar' or 'everything nice.' I'd go with suspicious bitch, explosive bitch, and sassy bitch."

"Sassy bitch, huh? I'd like to meet her. Which one would that be?" Brick's eyes glowed, ready to eyebeam Boomer. "To pummel her. Duh. Meet her to pummel her."

Suddenly the ground shook, and Brick looked out the window, seeing familiar green, red, and blue streaks. Brick grinned and flew out with Boomer right behind him. Far off in the distance, Brick saw the stereotypical Godzilla-like monster, spikes and scales and all, trampling over the city. There were lasers keeping him at bay, which was odd, because the Powerpuff Girls were still about a mile off.

"Did this city get an upgrade or something?" Boomer asked, looking around. He'd noticed the lasers too.

"I'd been wondering why there'd been less monster attacks," Brick remarked.

"Look, they have lasers and shit everywhere. Not bad," Boomer flew over to a laser he'd just noticed attached to the top of a building. "The newest models and all that good stuff."

"Must've been that, uh, Professor Uranium's job or something. The little girls might be too busy with their schoolwork to fight crime," Brick smirked.

"So uh, now what? We gonna bother them or something?"

"Boomer, Boomer, Boomer, my idiot brother. They're distracted. We're gonna take advantage of it. Now, are you hungry or what? Cuz I'm starving." Brick motioned for his brother to follow him, and the two headed for the downtown area. They stopped by every restaurant, and as the customers and owners had fled in the chaos, made easy work of grabbing a bunch of to-go meals.

"Hey Brick! Since I'm crashing with you for the weekend–"

"You're what?"

"Well, I am, so let's grab us some video games huh?"

"I say we go on a little shopping spree." The boys headed for the Townsville mall, taking anything and everything they wanted. Boomer and Brick finished their raid of the mall just as the Powerpuff Girls defeated the monster, and the boys flew home laughing the whole way.

"Man! That was awesome! Too bad Butch is missing out on this!"

"Ha! The sucker deserves it!" The boys arrived home, wolfed their food down, had a burping contest, and set up their new PS3.

"Aw man! Was that great or what?" Brick asked after an hour or two, when they had gone through every game.

"The greatest! So what should we do now?"

"It's Friday night, so we could spend more time playing around with our new stuff, or we could take a spin in our new _Porsche_," Brick suggested casually.

"Ooooh, the Porsche, the Porsche!" Boomer's eyes gleamed with excitement. "These monster attacks are great!"

"I know! I can't believe no one saw us carry this baby home."

"I can't believe the security was so pathetic. The next time a monster attacks we're getting another one." The boys scrambled outside and admired the car. "So beautiful, so new, so untouched," whispered Boomer as his eyes raked over the sleek figure of the red convertible.

"I know, I know. And the best of all? She's all ours," Brick said, jumping over the door into the driver's seat.

"Hey, how come you get to drive?" Boomer complained, slouching in the passenger seat.

"Because I sure as hell ain't letting you drive," Brick laughed, admiring the purr of the engine. "Okay babe," he whispered to the car, "let's do this." Brick brought his foot down on the acceleration pedal and sped to the downtown area.

"Woohoo!" Boomer yelled punching the air as they drove. "This feels great! But you know what would make this better?"

"What?" Brick asked, slightly annoyed. He was being forced to slow down as they neared the mall. Stupid traffic.

Boomer pointed ahead to the left. "Those hot chicks." And boy did they look hot. Nice, snug outfits and the bodies to go with them. Brick eyed the blonde on the on the right in particular, admiring her long, slim legs.

Pulling closer to the girls, Brick called out, "Hey ladies? Want a ride?"

"Excuse me?" the girl in the center demanded. Wait, he knew that voice. Oh shit. Oh shit. The three girls turned around to face him– the three Powerpuff Girls. Why did the world hate him so much?

* * *

><p><strong>Poor Brick. You got yourself into this.<strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**This is a mainly Brick-centric POV, so I'm making Brick use Pink, Blue, and Green to refer to the girls cuz he doesn't like calling them by their names :) until he warms up to them, that is.**

* * *

><p>"Hey you're cute," Boomer grinned, turning his attention to Blue, "you want a ride?" She giggled and gave him a sweet smile.<p>

"Hey! Don't talk to her like that!" Brick interrupted, drawing everyone's attention. "Don't you recognize them? They're our enemies," he added hastily.

"Wait, what?" Boomer questioned stupidly.

Brick couldn't take it anymore. "You dumbass!" he shouted at his brother. "Are you blind or has your brain completely failed you? Take a good look at them! They're the fucking Powerpuff Girls!" Brick stopped, his cheeks flushed with annoyance at his brother and embarrassment for himself. He glanced at the cars ahead of him. Fucking traffic. Why weren't they moving? A lot of good his stupid superpowers did him.

"The… Powerpuff Girls?" Boomer repeated, seemingly unable to comprehend the words. "Damn! You girls aged well!"

"ARGH!" Brick yelled, smacking his forehead. Why did his brother so completely lack dignity?

"Ugh! C'mon girls, we're leaving," the redhead scoffed as she turned around to leave.

"Bye!" the blonde gave a cheerful wave.

But Green didn't follow. "Buttercup!" the redhead yelled. "What are you doing?" Her sister didn't respond; her eyes were glued to the car.

"Blossom. Do you not see what's in front of you?"

"Our enemies offering us a ride in their car?" Pink answered in a disgusted tone.

"Not just any car. It's the same one I was begging the professor for," Green said in a dreamy voice.

"Wait, now that you mention it, it does look awfully similar to the one we saw at the car deal–"

"And now they're offering us a ride. And you just turned it down." Green snapped out of her trance, turning on her sister.

"We're not accepting rides from the Rowdyruff Boys. Speaking of, where's the third one?" Pink gave the boys a suspicious look. Brick was starting to think that was the only look she could manage.

"Military school," Boomer answered.

"What?" the three girls said in unison, wearing looks of surprise that eventually faded into looks of 'not-surprising-at-all-actually.'

"That's not important," Pink interrupted. "No rides. End of story. We're leaving. _Now._" She grabbed Green by the collar, gesturing at Blue to help her pull the struggling girl away.

"Whew," Boomer sighed. "For a moment there, I thought she'd accuse us of stealing the car."

"For a moment there, I thought you might act like a complete idiot. Oh wait! You did!" Brick turned on his brother. He heard a loud honk behind him and realized that the cars in front of him had cleared up. "DON'T YOU FUCKING HONK AT ME!" Brick yelled at the driver behind him, sending an eyebeam at the driver's hood before speeding forward into the mall parking lot.

"Goddammit," Brick muttered as the two boys walked through the mall. "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

"Oh cheer up!" Boomer exclaimed, pounding Brick on the back. "Everything's great! Look! More hot chicks!"

"Oh no! No more hitting on random girls that end up to be our worst enemies!" Brick's voice crescendoed.

"And I'm staying with you for the weekend!"

"Are you even trying to cheer me up?"

Boomer only laughed, choosing to rather frolic off to go hit on more women. Brick's attention was suddenly caught by a whispered yell of his name.

"Who said that?" he glanced in the direction of the sound.

"Over here," the voice spoke furtively from behind a column. Brick slowly made his way toward the column– only to find Green!

"You!" he yelled, jumping into a defensive stance. "Whaddya want?"

"Not so loud!" she whispered, looking around. "I want…well I want a ride in the car." Her words were quiet and rushed.

"You want…a ride." Brick repeated, narrowing his eyes.

"Yes, I want a ride," she said again, slightly frustrated. "I want to ride it. You don't understand. That car, that car, I want to drive it so badly. I have magazines and posters of it everywhere in my room. I've been eyeing it ever since it came out. But the professor won't let me get it. Hell, he won't let me get any car. So at least, just once, let me drive it. It's all I'm asking." The frustration in her voice had faded into slight desperation.

"No," Brick answered coldly, turning away.

"I'll stop throwing stuff at you. I'll give you anything, anything you want," she pleaded.

"Ha! As if you have anything that I'd want," he scoffed.

"I knew it'd come to this," she sighed. She spoke again, but this time more clearly and emphatically, "I have one thing to offer you. Final. Fantasy. XV."

Brick froze in his tracks. He slowly turned around to face her, narrowing his eyes with suspicion. "There's no way you have it. There's no fucking way you have it. They haven't even developed it."

"That's what they want you to think. There's already a beta. They're just tryin' to hype things up with all the secrecy."

"How would you know? And how would you have it?"

Green had a smug grin plastered on her face. "Being good pays, you know. I'm practically a celebrity. A good review from me boosts sales like crazy, so I get _all_ the video games _before _release," she bragged.

Brick was still doubtful. "So why don't you just ask the car companies for a car then?"

"Because in my whole family, I'm the only one who cares about these games," she explained wearily. "I get these things, play them, review them, and no one notices, because they don't look at the reviews I write. But if I showed up with a car in the driveway, the Professor wouldn't let me drive it and Blossom would be all up my ass about how I 'shouldn't take advantage of our situation' and blah, blah, blah. Now will you let me drive that thing or not?"

"What's your offer exactly?"

"I will _give _you the game. Like you can keep it forever. If you let me drive the car anywhere for the rest of tonight."

"Until midnight."

"Fine."

"Okay. But you're not driving it alone, because I am _not_ risking you crashing or stealing my baby," Brick said. She was about to retort but decided against it and nodded her acquiescence. "Okay, c'mon. This way," Brick gestured for her to follow. "Hey, won't her sisters realize you're missing?" he suddenly realized.

"Naw, every time we go shopping, I usually hang around the video game or sports area and Bubbles and Blossom go shop and whatever."

"What about your brother?" she shot back.

"He's busy hitting on someone, or something."

The two stealthily made their way through the mall. They kept their distance from each other and made sure not to be seen, though more importantly, not to be seen together. When they reached his car, Green jumped into the driver's seat and Brick slid into the passenger's.

"Hey, don't break anything," he warned.

"I won't, I won't," she assured him. From the corner of his eye, Brick could see her relax. She slowly turned the car on and slid her hands to the wheel, adjusting her grip every few seconds. She was taking everything in, admiring every aspect. Damn. She loved this car as much as he did. There was an awkward tension between them as she pulled out of the parking lot, but Brick kept reminding himself, _For the video game. For the video game._

As they finally reached the road and Green began to accelerate, they heard a sudden thump in the back seat. They both turned around, and it was Green who first shouted, "Bubbles!"

"Hi you guys!" she chirped.

"HEY! Buttercup! Focus on the road!" Brick reminded her, worried about his car. Turning back to the trespasser, he demanded, "What the hell are you doing here?"

"Well, you see, Blossom met some of her orchestra buddies and she decided to go off with them, so I was going to fly home myself since I couldn't find Buttercup. And would you believe it? Just as I walked out, I saw you two in this car! And I couldn't believe it, so I flew closer to get a better look, and it was you two! So I thought I'd join you," she explained, barely stopping to breathe.

"Bubbles, I already have to deal with grumpy here," Buttercup complained. "I don't want another person getting between me and this car tonight." She turned around to face her sister, but in her momentary lapse of attention, she almost swerved into another car.

"TURN AROUND!" Brick shouted. "Okay, I don't give a shit who's in this car, but you better focus on the road! If you crash my car, I swear I will kick you both out and run you all over, video game or not!" he growled. Buttercup turned around and stared hard at the road, muttering under her breath.

"So where're we headed?" Bubbles inquired after her sister after a brief silence.

"To the only place that could make this night better," she responded, grinning. After a quiet drive across town, she pulled into a parking lot that was beginning to fill up in front of a large stadium with a neon sign 'TownsvilleSquareMusicCenter.' Brick had never even known Townsville had a place like this. It looked new enough. "I remembered Orange Clash is playing here tonight, so I'm going in," Buttercup explained, getting out of the car. "You guys can stay out here and wait if you want," she added.

"Wait? Orange Clash?" Brick asked. Hesitating a bit, he muttered, "I'm coming too. I didn't think any one really knew them."

"Are kidding me? I love them! And they're pretty famous 'round here!" she gave a small laugh. "Bubbles, you coming?"

"Of course! I'm not waiting here myself," Blue said, catching up to them.

"This is gonna be awesome," Buttercup said to herself, unable to conceal her excitement.

* * *

><p><strong>Don't worry! This won't be a BrickButtercup story. I just wanted to develop their friendship. And poor Boomer has been left behind.**


	6. Chapter 6

**I apologize if some of my scenes are slightly unrealistic, since I've never actually bought a car or applied for a cafe job.**

* * *

><p>"Whooo!" Buttercup shouted as she walked out of the stadium, holding a newly-bought poster and T-shirt. "Wasn't that awesome?" she turned around to ask her companions.<p>

"Well, I'll admit they were better than a lot of the other bands you listen to," Blue admitted.

"Yeah it was cool," Brick muttered, pretending to be unfazed. But he was secretly very very happy, and he was so going to rub this in Butch's face.

"Shit!" Buttercup suddenly exclaimed. "C'mon, we gotta get home! The Professor hates it when we're home past eleven-thirty." She flew to the car and landed in the driver's seat. But when Brick was about to open the door, she suddenly asked, "Hey, um, do ya think…um…"

"Spit it out," Brick said.

"Well you know, it's almost 12 and since I'm not gonna be able to drive this later, you know, I thought…um, can you fly behind me?" she quickly finished her sentence.

"What?" Brick hadn't even caught the question.

"You know, you can fly near me to make sure don't crash and whatever, but I just wanna drive by myself. Like only me in the car."

"Uh…no."

"I'll give you the next game I get?"

Brick thought about it. "Okay then," he shrugged.

"Yes! Bubbles, get out of the car." Her sister tried to protest, but to no avail, and the moment Blue got out, Buttercup sped off. Brick trailed her, carefully watching her every move– teenage drivers were too reckless these days.

The city lights rushed past him in a blur of neon, and the sounds of city life swirled around in a jumble of human voices and engine purrs. Eventually they left the lights and noise behind, heading toward a quieter area of two-story houses.

"You don't talk much do you?" Blue remarked as they flew.

"No."

Silence.

"So…you committed any petty crimes recently?"

"I wouldn't call them petty," Brick snickered to himself, thoughts wandering to the hordes of stolen goods he had at home.

"Like that car?"

"Yeah. Wait. What?" he stared at her in shock. Shit! How could he just let it slip like that? "No, I mean, yeah, stealing that car wouldn't be a petty crime. Not that I stole it." Shit.

"Yeah, I thought so. You've got until Monday to pay the dealership. And I'll check in to make sure you've paid," she smiled at him, giggling at his shock. Brick would've liked to have said something very witty as a rebuttal, but he just couldn't think of anything. And they'd arrived at the girls' house.

"Girls!" a man in a white lab suit ran out of the house, arms wide open to receive them. "Where have you been? I've been so worried! I'm changing your curfew to 9 o'clock!"

"Professor!" the girls whined unison.

"Oh all right. I'm just kidding. But seriously, Blossom came home two hou-" he stopped upon noticing Brick. His eyes narrowed. "Who is _he_? And what is he doing here? Girls?"

"Professor! He's just letting me borrow his car!" Buttercup explained.

"This is his car? How dare you ride the car of a strange boy!"

"Gahh!" Buttercup screamed in frustration, pushing her father into the house while he continued his lecture. Just as she went inside the house, her other sister came out.

"What is _he _doing here?" Pink shrieked.

"Is everyone in this family gonna greet me like that?" Brick sighed.

"Oh it's okay, Blossom. He's just letting Buttercup borrow his car," Blue explained, slowly pulling her sister into the house.

Buttercup came running out of the house shortly, holding what Brick had been waiting for the whole time. "Here," she said as she handed him her– _his_ game. "And uh, thanks."

"Yeah," Brick muttered, turning around and jumping into his car. He put the key into the ignition, ready to get away from this crazy family.

"Don't forget! Monday!" a shout called after him as he drove off.

–––

"Where the hell have you been?" Boomer greeted Brick.

"Places."

"You left me at the mall! On the bright side though, I did get three phone numbers." He grinned, holding up three pieces of paper.

"Well I got Final Fantasy XV," Brick smirked at Boomer's shocked expression.

"Wait. How the hell? But- but it doesn't exist," Boomer stuttered.

"That's what you think," Brick laughed, handing him the game case. Boomer clutched the box and examined it, gazing at it as if it were some holy miracle of God.

"Damn! You really scored tonight, didn't you?"

"You could learn a thing or two."

"Very funny. How _did_ you get a hold of this?"

"I have my ways. So we gonna go through 20 Questions or are we actually gonna get playing?" The boys pulled out their game controllers, played through the night, and eventually fell asleep at four in the morning.

–––

"Wake up sleepyhead!" a sing-songy voice called to him. Brick punched toward the direction of the sound, recognizing the voice as belonging to his (sometimes very annoying) brother.

"Fuck you," Brick growled, getting up.

"Brick," Boomer whined, "I'm hungry. It's already 12! Make me food!"

"Make yourself food."

"I want pancakes," Boomer said, handing Brick a spatula. Brick sighed. The things he did for his brothers. "Don't forget the chocolate chips!" Boomer reminded Brick as he walked to the kitchen.

Fifteen minutes later, a delicious aroma wafted through the house, notifying Boomer that his food was ready. Boomer sped toward the kitchen, crash-landing at the table. "Brick's pancakes!" he exclaimed, bouncing up and down awaiting his food.

"Sometimes I worry that I'm related to you," Brick lamented as he handed Boomer a stack of pancakes. Boomer's mouth was already too stuffed to respond. "Oh hey," Brick suddenly said, "I just remembered. We have to pay for the Porsche."

"What?" Boomer whined through a mouthful of food.

"The damn Powerpuffs found out it was stolen." Well only one damn Powerpuff.

"So?"

"Boomer, if I had a dime for every time I asked if you were stupid, I'd have enough to pay for that car."

"Ouch, man."

"If they report us, the principal will find out. And then we'll get suspended or expelled. And then Him will get mad– really mad."

"Man! This sucks. How can anyone stand abiding by the law and all that good citizen stuff?"

"Beats me, but if don't want our asses whooped, we better find some money."

"Can't we just ask Him for money?"

"No. Well, actually, we could. But he won't be happy giving us 75K for a car."

"We could say it's for…school reasons?"

"For what reason in school do you need $75,000?"

"…Field trip?"

"I'm adding a dime to my Stupid Boomer fund. Just ask for money for the car."

"Fine." Boomer pouted and left to the other room. Brick could hear Boomer speaking nervously, then laughing sheepishly, then sighing with relief. The boy ran back to Brick with a big smile plastered on his face.

"So?" Brick asked.

"He wasn't happy, I'll tell you that."

"No shit."

"But we got the money!"

"What's the catch?" It wasn't like Him to just give it to them, no strings attached.

"Well…he wants us to get jobs."

"Jobs."

"Yeah."

"He wants us, the Rowdyruff boys, to get jobs."

"And I quote, 'To learn how to work for money so that we can support ourselves later on.'"

"Is that really something the person who was so evil they couldn't give him a name would say?"

"Well it's something our dad said. And now you need a job."

"And so do you."

"Well… I actually already have a job."

"What?"

"Yeah, remember there was that one music store across the street? Well I applied and I got hired. And they were even happier when they found out I'm in a band."

"So it's pretty much just me who needs to get a job."

"Yep."

Brick sighed, "Fine. Let's go pay for the damn car and find me a damn job."

–––

"Excuse me, sir? I'd like to buy that car over there," Boomer sidled up to the front counter of the car dealership.

"The one you boys drove here in?" the salesman asked, confused.

"Precisely, my good sir. It's actually yours. But being forcefully, somewhat-reformed citizens of this town, we're here to pay for it."

"Umm…" the salesperson hesitated, still confused.

"Just sell us the damn car," Brick walked up next to Boomer and glared at the idiot behind the counter.

"Y-yes, sir," the man stuttered, drawing back at Brick's glowing red eyes. He pulled out a stack of papers from a drawer, and fearfully asked, "How, um, will you, uh, pay?"

"In full. Just get on with it."

"R-right, sir. If you, uh, just initial here, sign here and here, initial here again, and sign here…"

–––

Half an hour later, the boys walked out of the dealership. Boomer whistled merrily, tossing the keys of their now legally-owned car up and down. Brick snatched the keys from Boomer mid-toss and hopped into the driver's seat.

"Hey!" Boomer objected.

"I gotta remind myself why I'm going through all this trouble."

"Hmph," Boomer grunted and began to mutter under his breath, but offered no other protests. "Oh hey, where're you thinking about getting a job?"

"I dunno. Isn't there some place around here that offers easy money?

"Yeah right. Good luck trying to find that. Why don't we try something more…basic?" Boomer scanned the shops lining the streets as they drove. "Wait!" he suddenly exclaimed. "Pull up there! Yeah near that café place, Coffee & Sweets, the one with the 'Now Hiring' sign." Brick looked to where Boomer was pointing– it was the same place Brick had once stolen a man's coffee. How ironic.

As the boys got out of the car, Boomer suddenly turned on Brick, "Wait! You can't go in there yet!" Boomer exclaimed.

"Why not?"

"Because no one'll ever hire you," Boomer sighed. "Brick, did anyone ever tell you that your normal facial expression is just…bitter? Seriously, if I were hiring people for my little café, the last person I'd hire is Mr. Grouchy Face."

"Shut up Boomer."

"Okay, now smile," Boomer ordered. When Brick just glared at him, Boomer pulled the corners of Brick's mouth upward, forcing him to smile. "Wow, that is one scary smile. Brick, do you want to get hired or not?"

"Yes, Boomer," Brick groaned.

"Then smile! And gimme a real one!" Brick took a deep breath and forced himself to give Boomer his most charming smile possible. "Wow Brick, that's actually… really attractive."

Brick reverted back to his old frown. "And you are really creepy."

"Hey you wanna get hired right? Well then, keep that award-winning smile glued on your face, and let me do the talking. And whatever you do, don't frown!" Brick concentrated on his face, forcing himself to keep smiling. He really wanted to punch something.

"Hello, we're looking for management. My brother here wants a job," Boomer, also donning his most charismatic smile, said to a waitress, who was blushing in the presence of two very handsome young men.

"Oh, uh.. j-just go through that door over there," she said shyly.

"Thank you, beautiful lady," Boomer grinned at her and walked toward the manager's office. Brick almost sighed, but remembered Boomer's orders and refocused on his smile.

"Hi!" Boomer greeted the manager. "My brother here would like to work at your lovely café."

"Oh, uh, very good," the manager looked up and examined Brick. Quite satisfied with the first impression, he said, "So Mr. uh–"

"Just Brick will do, sir."

"So Brick, what position are you applying for?"

"He's applying to be a waiter. Mr. uh, Allen, if you take a look at Brick, you'll see that with his comely face, beautiful smile, and toned physique that having him as a waiter will boost your sales with the female population of Townsville. Why, your café will out-compete any other!"

The manager looked at Brick, and muttered to himself, "Yes, yes, she's already attracting males, and with him attracting the females, all of Townsville's youth will be coming here!" The boys shot him weird looks, but Mr. Allen recomposed himself and calmly asked Brick, "Do have any experience as a waiter?"

"No, sir."

"Any restaurant or café experience?"

"No, sir."

"Any job experience at all?"

"No, sir."

"Can you take orders, serve food, and clean up dishes while looking good?"

"Uh, yes, sir?"

"Okay you're hired. You start Monday, but come here tomorrow so we can give you some basic training. Sound good?"

"Very good, sir!" Boomer interjected. "My brother is very grateful." Boomer led Brick out of the office and patted him on the back. "Well, my brother, you got the job!"

"You advertised me like a prostitute."

"But you got the job!"

"Thanks, man."

"No problem! Now come along. Let's celebrate." Boomer ran toward the car, pulling out the keys and taking a seat in front of the wheel.

"Hey! How'd you get that?" Brick patted his pockets.

"I've got my ways."

Brick laughed. For once, it was a genuine smile that he wore. And just this time, he'd let Boomer have his way.

* * *

><p><strong>Wheee~ I finally started fully utilizing those "–––" things so now I can do scene changes better. <strong>

**I really love these brothers. I can just imagine Boomer growing up as the naturally charismatic lady's man, whereas Brick grows up more attractive but the hate that just emanates off him pushes away the weak of heart. **

**I wish I could bring Butch in, but unfortunately this is actually still the first weekend of Brick's stay, so Butch probably isn't coming in until much later (although hopefully not that much). **

**And thank you all so much for the kind and encouraging comments! :)**


	7. Chapter 7

**This was a quick update, because I'm trying to do anything to avoid studying for my AP tests.**

* * *

><p>"Rise and shine!" someone sang. Brick slowly opened his eyes, and sleepily focused them on Boomer, dressed in a frilly apron and holding a plate of eggs and toast.<p>

"AHHH!" Brick screamed when he realized what he was looking at. "What the hell are you wearing? And where the hell did you get that?"

"Do you like it? I actually bought it for you!" Boomer joked and handed Brick the plate of food. "And I made breakfast for you!"

"This is breakfast?" Brick eyed the food warily. The scrambled eggs were undercooked and oddly colored, and the toast was burnt unevenly throughout. "I think I'll just make my own food."

"Oh, make some for me too! I can't eat this," Boomer made a face.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure the World Health Organization would love to have you arrested for your cooking. Just leave the cooking to me."

"My plan all along. Oh! Don't forget to wear this." Boomer took off the apron and threw it on Brick. "Aww Brick the housewife!"

"Get this off me!" Brick hollered.

"No! It's preparation for your waiter job. Now serve me food!"

Ugh. His job as a waiter. And he had to go get training too– not that he needed it. How hard could it be to be a waiter?

–––

Later in the afternoon, Brick drove to the café, cursing the idiots that thought working would build character. Boomer, who was whistling merrily next to him, had forced him to wear a crisp white collared shirt and black jeans. He had been allowed to keep his red cap on though.

They arrived at the café, and as Brick walked toward the entrance, he realized Boomer was still with him. "What are you doing?" Brick asked.

"Whaddya mean?" Boomer replied innocently.

"Aren't you gonna go home?"

Boomer laughed, "No way, man! I'm gonna be here to see how you do. Maybe I'll even be your first customer."

Brick sighed and walked into the manager's office, leaving Boomer to find a seat himself. "Hey, Mr. Allen."

"Oh Brick, hello," the manager greeted him. "Right on time. Alright, I'm going to give you this shirt." He held up a white shirt. "And your dress code will be a white shirt on top and black pants or jeans on the bottom, which I see you're already wearing. Very good; keep these clean– if they get stained you need to buy a new one."

"Yes, sir."

"You can just wait outside, and I'll send one of my waiters to walk you through everything."

"Okay, sir."

Brick took his white shirt and walked into the café. He found Boomer sitting at a table with a group of girls, who were obviously enamored with him. "Hey Boomer. Hold onto this for me," Brick handed him the shirt.

"Oh hey! Ladies," Boomer turned to the girls, "this is my brother Brick."

"Hi, Brick," they chimed. A few of them waved and batted their eyelashes at him.

"He's gonna be a waiter here, so tip him well, okay?" The girls giggled in response, nodding their agreement.

"Brick!" The boy turned around to see the manager calling to him.

Brick walked over and asked, "Yes?"

"I want you to meet your trainer," Mr. Allen gestured to a blonde girl with two long pigtails who was taking someone's order. "Hold on. Bubbles! Come here." Bubbles?

"Coming!" she called. She turned around and spotted Brick, but, while Brick could tell she was surprised, Bubbles managed to hide the shock well and walked calmly over.

"Bubbles, I'd like you to meet Brick. He's our new employee. Brick, this is Bubbles. She's our best waitress, so she'll walk you through everything."

"Oh, you flatter me, Mr. Allen," she giggled, then turned to Brick, "Hi Brick."

"Hi…Bubbles."

"Well then, I leave him in your hands Bubbles," the manager said, and retreated to his office. Of all the jobs available, Brick just had to pick the one that had a Powerpuff in their employ? And seriously, as a Powerpuff, she couldn't get a better place to work?

"So, have you paid for your car yet?" she asked quietly.

"As a matter of fact, I have," Brick responded smugly.

"Okay then, lemme show you around." She wasn't gonna keep bothering him about it, or call him a name or something? "Here's the kitchen– it's where they make all the food and pastries–"

"No shit, Sherlock," Brick interrupted.

She gave him a reprimanding look and continued, "But we make the drinks, like the coffee and tea, up front. You'll learn how to do that later." They continued the tour of the café. "Bathrooms are here, and if you wanna take a break, you can go over there. And then the rest of this place is just the tables for the customers. All good?"

"Yeah."

"Okay, so this place is a bit different, in that we– the waiters– still take orders, you know? Most cafés are just stand in line to order, but I guess that's why I like it here," her voice trailed off. "Anyways, let's show you how to take an order." She explained to him every little detail about taking an order, from the exact lines to say to what expression he should wear.

"Yeah, yeah, I got it," Brick said, bored.

"Alright, then, let's give it a try. Why don't we start with that table over there?" she pointed to a table where a girl was signaling them. And wouldn't ya know? It was Boomer's table.

"Let's get this over with," Brick groaned, walking toward them.

"Wait, stand up straight! And look friendly. Smile. And talk sweetly," she ordered.

Big smile, big smile, c'mon. Brick forced himself to look happy. "Hello, how are you all doing today?" he greeted them.

"Brick!" Boomer looked up, surprised. "And Bubbles! Well hello, beautiful, how are you?"

She laughed, but said, "Sorry, working hours. I'm not allowed to socialize."

"Aww, but I didn't get your number the other day. C'mon, please," Boomer begged, completely ignoring the other girls at his table.

"Just order," Brick growled at him.

"Smile," Bubbles whispered to him.

"Um, I'd like a slice of New York Cheesecake," one girl said.

"Oooh, Julie, I want some too!"

"I want Chocolate Mouse Cheesecake!"

"Can I also get a latte? Wait, no actually, hot tea."

"Actually, can I change my order to Fresh Strawberry Shortcake?"

"Nevermind, I want a latte."

"Wait, I'm actually hungry. Can I also get Fresh Roasted Turkey Club?"

"Wait, no, Danielle, let's share a Club Panini on Sourdough."

"Sarah, do you wanna split a French Onion Soup and Harvest Salad with me?"

"Yeah! Let's also get the Tiramisu cake!"

"You guys can share cake with us!"

"Really thanks! No Tiramisu then."

"Wait, no order the Tiramisu. I want some."

Brick stared at them, completely lost. Why couldn't people arrange their orders before hand? And why did girls talk so fast?

Bubbles, however, quickly took over, "So that'll be a New York Cheesecake, Fresh Strawberry Shortcake, a latte, Club Panini on Sourdough, French Onion Soup and Harvest Salad, and a Tiramisu?" The girls nodded their heads in unison. "Any other drinks for you ladies? Anything for you Boomer? No? Okay, then." She wrote everything down, and turned to leave.

"You could learn a thing or two from her, Brick," Boomer teased him.

"Shut up," Brick scowled at him. But it was true– she was damn good at her job.

"Sorry," Bubbles apologized after she submitted the order. "That probably wasn't the best table to start out with. But there will be tables like that, so you've gotta learn to follow what they say. It'll get easier, don't worry."

"Yeah," Brick mumbled. He spent the next few hours taking orders, serving food, and cleaning up tables, all the while learning to become a more presentable waiter. Brick had frozen his face in a smile and softened to voice, and now he was becoming quite popular.

To Brick's surprise, Bubbles was amazing at her job– she could memorize orders and serve them perfectly without a single mistake, she could balance up to eight orders on her arms, and never once did she drop anything. Brick had once tried to memorize an order, but unfortunately he had chosen a large table and he jumbled a few orders up; fortunately, Bubbles _had_ memorized the order perfectly and had corrected him. She was also, Brick found, an expert at dealing with angry customers. Her sweet voice, polite speech, and ever-present smile soothed upset clientele, and they all left happy and satisfied. And everything she did, she looked hot doing it. The way she slightly swished her hips when she walked, the way she cocked her head a bit when taking orders, how her clothes emphasized her slight curves and slender figure, how her laugh sounded like tinkling bells– Brick couldn't help but notice it all. And he wasn't the only one. Many of the customers were males, and it wasn't hard to realize the reason they ate at Coffee & Sweets was her. But she stuck to the rules– work hours meant no socializing.

"Okay, I think we're all done here," Bubbles finally said several hours later. "Good job today."

"Thanks."

"Hey, Mr. Allen always lets us grab something to eat when our shift's over. C'mon, you want anything?" she offered.

"Uh, sure," Brick shrugged. Free food was always good.

"I think I'll just get a cookie today," Bubbles thought to herself.

"Can you get me a brownie?" Brick asked.

"No problema." She handed him a warm brownie. "So, see you tomorrow?"

"Yeah. Uh, thanks, Bubbles."

"You're welcome. Bye," she waved and left. Brick's gaze lingered a bit on her as she flew away, but he snapped out of his daze and looked around for Boomer.

"Wake up, man," Brick punched Boomer, who'd fallen asleep at his table.

"Ladies, ladies, no pushing," Boomer mumbled in his sleep. Brick sighed, took his white shirt from the seat next to Boomer, grabbed a glass of cold water, and dumped it on his brother.

"AHH!" Boomer screamed, jolting up. His blue eyes glowed and shot the glass in Brick's hand.

"Ouch!" Brick mumbled, shaking his slightly burnt hand. "I'm gonna have to pay for that man."

"I'll make you pay for more than jus that," Boomer scowled.

"You're in a bad mood," Brick laughed.

"I was having a good dream. _And _I got just water dumped on me. And you're in a good mood," Boomer observed.

"I am? Yeah, I guess. It wasn't as bad as I thought it'd be."

"I bet! You got to work with a hottie the whole time! I saw the way you looked at her." Boomer was grinning from ear to ear.

"Brick!" Mr. Allen called, saving Brick from having to reply. "You did a great job today, boy! I hope you made friends with Bubbles– you'll be working the same shift as her. 3:30 to 7:00 Mondays to Thursdays, and 2:00 to 8:00 on weekends, okay?"

"Okay."

"Now go home and rest up."

"Thank you, sir." Brick turned and walked out, and Boomer jogged after him.

"You'll be working the same shift as her, Brick," Boomer teased in a sing-songy voice.

"Shut up!" Brick punched the annoying fool next to him. "I wasn't looking at her in any way. I was trying to learn to be a better waiter."

"Ha! More like trying to learn how to get into her pants AH–" Boomer screamed as Brick eyebeamed him.

"You asked for it," Brick smirked.

"Hmph, whatever. Hey, I'm going home, 'kay? See ya when I see ya," Boomer waved and took off.

"Yeah, it was fun, man. Don't crash into anything," Brick called after him. He sighed, took off his cap, and ran his hand through his hair. It'd been a long day.

* * *

><p><strong>OMG! Romantic development! It only took 7 chapters to finally get here D:<strong>

**I turned Boomer into a total player. Who should he get together with in the end? :/**

**Stay tuned, darlings!**


	8. Chapter 8

The next couple weeks passed slowly, as Brick continued trying to adjust to Townsville life. It was definitely better than the first week, especially after he realized he was quite revered at school. He was the fastest runner they'd ever seen, he was acing his classes easily, and to top it off, he was damn hot. Even better was that Blossom had stopped glaring at him and had decided to resort to ignoring him instead– which suited Brick just fine. Buttercup had stopped throwing things at him, and they could occasionally carry out a decent conversation. He was also getting used to his job and found that Bubbles was quite easy to work with. Brick spent a lot of his free time playing video games, cruising around in his Porsche, working out in his training room, and eating.

It was the first Monday of March when Brick landed in front of the school. "Brick!" someone hollered at him.

"Oh, hey Coach Brown," Brick greeted his track coach.

"I've been meaning to speak to you."

"Yeah?"

"We have our spring sports assembly this Friday. Since you're new, you probably don't know, but at every sports assembly, we introduce the varsity team, so get out of fourth period early and be sure you're wearing your track shirt. Since you're track captain, they'll make you participate ins ome activity, so be ready and uphold the honor of our team!"

"Sure thing, Coach," Brick shrugged. "Oh, yeah, I wanted to let you know, that I gotta leave a bit early from practice today. I gotta get to my job a bit early. Not that I really need to practice anyway." He smirked.

"You know, kid, if you ran half a second slower than you do, I'd have kicked you off the team, and then just kicked you."

Brick smirked. "But ya can't. Cuz I'm your best bet to winning."

"You're one arrogant son of bitch, you know that?"

"More than you realize, Coach. See ya."

–––

"Hey, coach, I'm done," Brick said after jogging the mile. Second place was still a lap and a half behind him.

"Holy crap! 4:01!" Coach stared at his stopwatch. Brick had tried going a bit slow this time to let the others catch up. There were so many slowpokes on this team; no wonder the other school kept beating them.

"So can I go?"

"Dismissed," Coach said, still staring at his stopwatch. "4:01! We're gonna win this year," he snickered to himself, as Brick walked away shaking his head. He went to the locker room, changed into his work clothes, and flew to the café. Mr. Allen had told him to arrive early since the person with the shift before him needed to leave early. When Brick arrived, he found Bubbles already taking orders.

"Hey, go help that table," she ordered as he walked in. "And don't forget, be friendly." Soon, the café began to fill with the usual hormone-overdosed girls squealing over him. They kept calling him over for the most trivial things and giggling whenever he spoke. Frankly, it was giving him a very bad headache. And that none of them were attractive wasn't helping. He noticed that there were also a good amount of male students here, trying to get Bubbles' attention. How in the world did she deal with this?

"You're pretty popular now," Bubbles commented after they finished their shift. "Guys didn't start coming here for me until a month after I started."

"It's not like I'm enjoying this. How do you even deal with all these idiots?"

"Well you'll get used it. And honestly, a lot of the guys are here out of habit now. They're just messing around. And they tip pretty well, so I'm not really complaining," she grinned.

"All their tips together aren't worth the headache I have," he grumbled.

"Have a cookie then. Danny made this batch, and personally, I think he's the best baker here," she offered him a cookie.

"Thanks," Brick said, biting into the chocolate chip cookie. It was really good.

"So, how're you enjoying track?" she asked.

"I can't really enjoy it when there's no competition. They all run slower than the Amoeba Boys," Brick complained.

"Don't be so harsh on them. They don't have Chemical X to help them, not like we do."

"You think I use my powers when I'm running against them? I could beat any one of them on _Antidote_ X."

"You think too highly of yourself."

"I only think too highly of myself because it's true."

"Okay, Hotshot, what about some friendly competition?"

"You think _you_ can run faster than me?"

"Brick, I beat the fastest man in the world when I went to the Super Summit as a kindergartener. I _know_ I can beat you."

"You're on. Tomorrow after school at the field. And this time, I'm using my powers at their max."

"I wouldn't expect anything less."

–––

By the time Brick arrived at the track field, a horde of students had already formed. Apparently, word had gotten around that there was going to be a race. He noticed Buttercup sitting on the sidelines in a beach chair, sipping soda and eating a bag of chips. Did she keep a beach chair in her locker?

Brick pushed his way to the starting line to find Bubbles already stretching. "You ready to eat dust?" Brick grinned.

"Let's save the bragging for after _I_ win," she retorted.

Brick turned to a boy he recognized from his track team, "Hey, you! We're doing a 400m, and you're gonna be the ref." Under Brick's demanding glare, the boy nodded obediently. As Brick and Bubbles took their places, the crowd parted and began to cheer for their favorite contestant.

"Go Brick!" the boys from the track team yelled.

"You can do it Bubbles!" the cheerleaders called in support, although a few of them added a "You too Brick!" after.

"Kick his ass!" Brick heard Buttercup holler.

He shut out all other noises and focused on his running. The boy refereeing shouted, "Ready…set…go!" They shot off faster than speeding bullets, sending a huge gust of wind that managed to knock over a nearby tree. Brick pushed ahead of Bubbles, but halfway across the field she caught up to him. She waved at him and surged forward. Impossible! Brick gritted his teeth and forced himself to go faster. Half a nanosecond after they'd begun, the two reached the finish line– Bubbles literally six inches ahead of Brick.

"Shit!" Brick cursed as he skidded to a stop.

"Yay, that was fun!" Bubbles giggled.

The rest of the students stood there, whispering confusedly. "So…who won?" the referee boy asked.

"Bubbles, duh, you dumbasses. Can't see for yourselves?" Buttercup rolled her eyes. "That's my sister! Still the fastest person in the world!" She got up to congratulate Bubbles. The crowd just accepted Buttercup's word and began swarming in. They offered Bubbles congratulations and Brick words of comfort.

"We knew you could do it!" the cheerleaders squealed.

"It's okay Brick. Who knew she was that fast?" the referee boy said.

"Maybe we should recruit her. Or not," another boy from track suggested, but took back his words after Brick glowered at him.

"We should do this again sometime Brick!" Bubbles skipped merrily over.

"I'm amazed you're not crying for mommy this time– or I guess, Himmy," Buttercup teased.

Brick muttered something incoherent under his breath. He cleared his throat and said through gritted teeth, "Congratulations, you won."

"You never had a chance!" Buttercup laughed as she gave him a friendly thump on the back. Brick glared at her, though it didn't intimidate her in the least. Bubbles shook her head, chuckling to herself.

–––

"You know, you're pretty good too," Bubbles suddenly said as they flew to Coffee & Sweets.

"What?"

"At running, I mean. When I competed against E-Male, I don't think I even tried. But today I actually had to put in effort– though still not much," she grinned.

"Shut up," Brick scowled, but looked away and said quietly, smiling to himself, "Thanks."

–––

With Friday came the sports assembly, and Brick excused himself early from his fourth period, slipped his track uniform on, and headed toward the gym. Many of the other spring sports teams were already seated, and he noticed Bubbles– er, noticed the cheerleaders practicing their routine for the assembly.

"Brick, over here," Coach Brown hollered from the side stands. Brick walked over and took a seat next to Floyd– or was it Lloyd (he could never tell the difference between the twins). The bell rang and the rest of the student body began filing into the gym. The assembly began and every sports team was introduced one by one. It was long and boring, and despite the noise from the crowd, Brick almost fell asleep. He finally stirred when (F)loyd nudged him to tell him that it was the track team's turn. They paraded to the center of the gym to the cheers and squeals of the crowd. Brick could've sworn he'd heard a "I love you Brick!" somewhere in there. They introduced themselves and sat back down. The girls' track team went up next, with Buttercup leading the team.

"What's the point of this assembly?" Brick groaned to (F)loyd.

"I guess to just support the sports teams? And encourage people to go to the meets," the boy replied.

"Fucking waste of time. I could be sleeping right now," Brick muttered to himself.

"It gets better. Cheer's doing a routine next. And boy, those girls are hot, especially their captain, Bubbles. Oh yeah! She beat you the other day at the 400, huh? Don't worry, man, you're still the best. Kinda." (F)loyd laughed, and patted Brick on the back. Brick gave shot him an evil look, though not for the reasons (F)loyd would've thought.

"Lloyd, you shouldn't bug Brick about the race– next thing you know your head'll be punched in," another kid, Johnny, joked. The two boys burst into laughter and began discussing the race, while Brick sat pouting with a snarl on his face.

The cheer routine began and all attention focused onto the girls. But Brick's attention focused only on _one_ girl– the girl that was outshining the rest. The girl whose flips were higher, cartwheels were longer, twirls were smoother, smile was brighter. The girl whose two pigtails bounced behind her as she skipped and bounded here and there, eventually making her way up to the top of the four-level pyramid. She did a 720 somersault, landing gracefully to a round of cheers and whoops.

"Hot damn," Brick heard Lloyd sigh next to him.

"You don't have a chance, Lloyd," his twin, Floyd spoke up.

"Shut up, Floyd, you don't have a chance either. Buttercup's already taken," Lloyd smirked.

"I don't like her! I just think she's hot," Floyd defended himself.

"Yeah, you wish you could tap that," Lloyd joked, and a couple of the other boys burst out laughing. Brick's eavesdropping was interrupted by an announcement ordering all the team captains to assemble in the center of the gym.

"Good luck, cap'n!" Lloyd called after him.

"Don't disappoint us!" another kid shouted.

"Yeah, don't lose to Bubbles again!" someone yelled. Brick snapped his head around at those words, glaring down the fool who'd dared to say them. Brick strolled to the center, trying to muster a semi-interested expression.

"Okay guys, we're gonna have a little competition here," the spirit commissioner, who hosted the assemblies, said. "I'm gonna pair you guys up, and you're gonna do a little three-legged race across this court, untie yourselves, and the one who runs back has to do hurdles. First team back wins! So let's see, why don't boys lacrosse and girls swimming go together, and let's see, boys swimming and softball, and girls track with baseball. Who's left? Okay, boys track with cheer, and girls lacrosse with boys golf, and boys tennis and boys volleyball. Everyone, find your partner." Boys track and cheer? Brick was boys track, and Bubbles was cheer, which meant…they'd be a team. Brick looked around for Bubbles, who was already merrily making her way over.

"Hey there, partner," she greeted him and began tying their legs together. "It's nice they paired the fastest people here together. We can do this!" She raised her hand for a high five, and Brick was slightly taken aback. He covered up his surprise and gave her a hesitant high five. They went to the starting line, and as if she hadn't an ounce of shyness, she wrapped her arm around him. He could feel her body press against his. Brick slowly put his arm around her shoulder and tried to concentrate on the finish line.

On the go signal, the two pushed off. With their heightened supersenses and their superspeed, they became perfectly synchronized. Compared to all the other teams, their running was fluid and smooth, not the slightest bit of awkward motion between them, and above all, swift. The crowd roared as they sped past the finish line far ahead of any other team (including Buttercup's because her partner was slowing her down). With nimble moves, Bubbles undid the rope around their legs and urged Brick toward the hurdles. Brick leaped over each hurdle with the all the grace of a cheetah, finishing the second part just as Buttercup and her partner reached the first finish line.

"Wow that was amazing! I don't think I've ever seen such beautiful running, especially in the three-legged race. Brick and Bubbles everyone!" the commissioner bellowed, as the crowd cheered for the winning team.

"We won!" Bubbles shouted as she ran over and gave Brick a hug. Before he even had the chance to decide how to respond, she pulled away and continued, "You were great! Usually I'm paired with the captain of boys swimming, and he can swim, but he can't run." She laughed and ran off to Buttercup to share her joy.

Brick could have been alone or surrounded by ten, ten thousand, ten million people, and he wouldn't have noticed. All he could think of was what'd just happened. And for the first time in his life, his cheeks were the color of his hair.

* * *

><p><strong>I think it's He-Mail but I'm not sure. : And I think the names of the two twins from Pokey Oats are Floyd and Lloyd (something)? I couldn't really make them out. Does anyone know?**

**Tell me if you catch any grammar mistakes. Thanks!**


	9. Chapter 9

**It's been a (relatively) long time, and I have only a short one to show for it. :( **

**But worry not, the next chapter is semi-written already, I just need to... formulate my ideas a bit more. **

**P.S. Thanks for the reviews guys! Love you all :)**

****Edit: Much thanks to Jet Warrior for the E-Male thing :D and the clear up on the twins' names. I think I'm just gonna leave them last-name-less though.**  
><strong>

* * *

><p>After a few weeks, all the talk about the race and the assembly faded away, and Brick was left in peace for a while. Upon walking into the boys' locker room in sixth period, he found a group of boys congregated around what seemed to be a flyer. Whispers of "here he is!" floated around, and some of the boys glanced shiftily at him.<p>

In his usual straightforward manner, Brick demanded, "What?"

"Brick! Buddy," Lloyd came up to him and slung an arm around his shoulder, "You see this?" He held up the flyer– it said in big, bolded letters 'Mr. Townsville.' "This, my friend, is our school's annual Mr. and Miss Townsville contest. Lemme give you a brief rundown. Every year, our school hosts this pageant, basically, for boys and girls. Anyone can enter, really, so each of the sports teams, even those in off season, pick one to three people to enter into the contest and we all compete to see which sport the Mr. Townsville will be a proud member of. The girls do it too. Oh, and it's open to the whole school; it's just that it's become kinda an unwritten law for sports to enter people."

"And your point is?" Brick narrowed his eyes.

Lloyd shrunk back a bit, but continued, to the admiration of the other boys, "Our point _is_ that we want you to enter the Mr. Townsville contest as a rep of the boys' track team." He put on a big hopeful smile.

"No," Brick said, as he walked away.

"Aww c'mon," Lloyd begged.

"No," Brick asserted, but the other boys joined Lloyd, and soon there was a horde of boys pleading Brick to enter.

"C'mon Brick, with you, it's a sure win!"

"Yeah, you're already popular."

"We'd get all the girls' votes! Haven't you seen them staring at you all the time?"

"Yeah you lucky asshole!"

"C'mon man, you look good, you run fast, you got the ladies, just enter for us."

"Please, Brick. We need to beat the basketball team this year."

"Yeah, for the track team!"

"Pretty please?"

"With a cherry on top?"

"Fine!" Brick shouted, tired of their whining. "Just leave me alone."

"Yes!" they exclaimed at once.

–––

"Okay, lemme explain this better," Lloyd continued while they were running the mile. Brick forced himself to slow his pace. "So, to get in you need a 2.5 GPA and a rec from two teachers. Lame, but the school wants to make the parents happy. Then you need to sign up and get at least 25 votes– but that's not hard. Then you answer a Q&A that they put up to let everyone get familiar with the contestants. Then after that it's round one, the modeling contest–" Brick made a face "–they change what you model every year, but you'll do fine. And then there's the talent part. And a different set of judges– 'unbiased students who are not participating or affiliated with entrants' although that's like impossible, but anyway, a different set of judges for each part. And after you beat all the other people, the remaining six people, three boys and three girls, are paired up, and they do whatever, and then everyone votes, and the winning couple are Mr. and Miss Townsville."

"Wow, okay, that was a long explanation that I didn't really listen to, so…just tell me what to do when the time comes," Brick said, speeding through the remaining lap, as Lloyd called after him.

–––

"I hear you're entering the Mr. Townsville competition," Bubbles remarked during a lull in business at the café.

"Yeah, so?"

"I'm entering too, and so're Buttercup and Blossom, actually. But...I'm kinda excited," she smiled sheepishly. "Last year's was really fun– Blossom and I made it to the last six, but this senior won. So maybe I'll win this year." She giggled and skipped off to take the order of a new customer.

Suddenly, somehow, this contest had just gotten a lot more interesting.

–––

"Okay Brick, we submitted your entry form and got 25 votes for you, so here's your Q&A form," Floyd handed him a paper after he sat down for lunch the next day. Brick took the paper and gave it a mere glance before he bit into his hamburger. "Aren't you gonna think about what you're gonna write? Other people'll see this, you know."

"Fine," Brick moaned, setting down his food and picking up the paper. "Question one," he read aloud. "Why do you want to be Mr. Townsville? I don't. My track team wants me to."

"You're not actually gonna write that, are you?" Lloyd spoke up hesitatingly.

"Yeah, we'd like to actually win this year," Floyd added.

"Question two. As a potential Mr. Townsville, how do you help Townsville? I don't rob stores and beat up people anymore. Be thankful," he smirked. "Question three. What is your favorite color? Uh, red. Question four. What is your favorite food? Crème brûlée. What? Don't judge," Brick snapped after the boys at the table shot him weird looks. Brick refocused on the list and realized that the rest of it consisted of favorites questions. "What the hell? This is stupid. Who gives a shit what my favorite–" he glanced at a random question "household appliance is? Which dumbass thought of these questions?"

"You'd be surprised how many girls would kill to know every bit about you. The Q&A's actually really popular," Lloyd sighed.

"I can't wait to read Buttercup's," Floyd muttered as an aside.

"Case in point," Lloyd gestured at his twin. "Just fill it out. All the contestants have to." If all the contestants had to, then that would mean…Bubbles filled one out too. Not that he cared, Brick thought as he returned to his hamburger.

–––

"I didn't know your favorite song was Somewhere Only We Know! I love that song!" Bubbles said during their break at work.

"Yeah, so?"

"Well, it just doesn't seem like the type of song you'd listen to."

"And what type of songs would I listen to?"

"Oh, I dunno. Like, um, well actually I can't imagine you listening to music," she giggled. "Just teasing, maybe rap?"

"That's Butch's style. Boomer and I share more similar music. How'd you know that anyway?"

"I read it on your Q&A yesterday."

"They already put it up?"

"Yup, as soon as you submit it. Mine's up too, but we submitted it pretty early. And I think it's good that you're not robbing stores and beating up innocent townsfolk," she grinned.

"Can't argue with that."

"It's also good to know that your favorite household appliance is a toaster and that your favorite country is Brazil."

"I like eating toast and Brazilian women are hot."

"Well, you should take some time to read mine."

"Why?" Brick asked warily.

"Because learning someone else's favorites is a good way to become friends. And honestly… I'd much rather we be friends than enemies," she sighed and paused for a moment. "Don't tell Blossom I said this, but… I don't think you and your brothers are so bad. Everything happened such a long time ago– we should just move on. And it's easier to be friends, you know?" She shrugged, then smiled hopefully at him.

Brick stared at her for a while, trying to understand what she was really saying. She was offering to be friends? The Rowdyruff Boys and the Powerpuff Girls. Friends? Was that even possible? Brick's musings came to an end, and he narrowed his eyes at Bubbles. His suspicious expression transformed to a slight grin as he slowly extended his hand. "Friends?"

Bubbles returned the grin as she firmly shook his hand, and replied, "Friends."

–––

When Brick got home, he grabbed his laptop and plopped onto his bed. He typed in the school website, clicked on the link to all the Q&As, and found looked for Bubbles's. Feeling slightly at odds with himself, Brick hesitated for a moment. He felt...something felt…wrong. But…he was just reading this as a friend, right? There was nothing wrong with that. Friends getting to know each other. Right.

It wasn't like him to hesitate. If Brick wanted something, he went for it. Brick shook his head once and started scrolling through Bubbles's Q&A.

Wow, she did a _lot_ of community service.

Favorite color? Blue, duh. He didn't even need to read that one.

Favorite food? Lemon meringue pie. Hey, he knew how to make that.

Favorite animal? Octopus. Didn't she used to carry around that octopus toy all the time?

Favorite song? Halo. It suited her.

Favorite this. Favorite that. Brick suddenly realized that it was almost ten– he hadn't even eaten dinner yet. How long had he spent reading and rereading those same 50 questions? And thanks to his superb memory, he'd memorized that list by now. He could recite it forward and backward. Every little detail.

Friends could read friends' Q&As. There was nothing wrong with that. Absolutely nothing wrong with that.

* * *

><p><strong>*For those who were curious<strong>

**Somewhere Only We Know- Keane**

**Halo- Beyonce**

**I'd originally been thinking of a way for Brick to showcase a talent other than in sports, and then it somehow turned into a pageant contest. :D**

**Anyone have any ideas for what the modeling theme should be? My thoughts were 1920s, 1950s, Greek gods and goddesses, or famous people (but this last one is kinda broad). Suggestions anyone?**

**And constructive criticism always welcomed :)**


	10. Chapter 10

A week passed, all the Q&A forms had been submitted, and the names of the contestants were posted up. There were 49 participants, although this list of 49 didn't really mean much, since almost anyone could get in. Brick scanned the list, curious to see who else he'd be going against. There was Johnny, the guy from track; Mitch, Buttercup's boyfriend, competing for the swim team; and a couple other names he recognized from his classes. On the girls' list, there was Blossom, Bubbles, Buttercup, that Cindy girl from cheer, and more names he recognized from various classes.

"Hey, friend!" Bubbles greeted as she walked up to him. "Looking at the list, I see."

"Don't call me that," he muttered, as she chuckled.

"So you're Brick?" someone scoffed from behind. Brick whirled around to find an orange-haired girl flocked by a pack of stupid-looking girls all in some uniform. The orange-haired one seemed to be looking down on him. Which pissed him off. A lot.

"What do you want?" Brick growled.

"Oh, I'm just here to introduce myself. My name's Princess," she offered a hand, which, when Brick didn't take it, she withdrew. "It seems you're well-known enough around here for me to give up some of my precious time to grace you with my greetings. But you know, the rumors are true. You're hot." She gave him a look, which Brick assumed was supposed to be seductive, but in reality was quite repulsive. "Oh, Bubbles," Princess's lip curled in disgust when she spotted the blonde suspiciously eying her, "you're competing again this year too? Losing last year wasn't enough?"

"Yeah, we're competing," Bubbles replied, unfazed. "If I remember correctly, though, you didn't win either?"

"Last year's competition was a little…slip up. But anyway, this year's Miss Townville competition is _mine_, and I'm not going to be outdone by a little nothing like you," she scoffed and strutted away.

After she was long gone, Brick turned to Bubbles and asked, "Wasn't she that girl who wanted to join the Powerpuff Girls, then wanted to join the Rowdyruff Boys?"

"Yes, yes she was."

"For such a loser, she's a real snobby bitch."

Bubbles sighed, "Yeah, she's captain of song and dance, so she thinks she's all high and mighty, and she thinks they're so good, and so exclusive, just because she can pick who's on her team, but cheer's just as good! Hell, we're better! I'll show her!" Bubbles voice crescendoed until everyone in the hallway focused on her. "Sorry," she mumbled, realizing the attention she was drawing.

"You were saying?"

"Well," Bubbles cleared her throat, "Because of all the donations her dad gives to this school, she was allowed to start song and dance, which is basically a way for her to be captain for a cheer team, but they're nowhere near as good as we are. Anyway, she holds the tryouts and she picks the girls, so the team is kinda exclusive. Which, honestly, I don't even understand why. They didn't even place in top three last year at Nationals. And I don't plan on letting that- that bitch snag a victory this year." Her eyes narrowed and she grew serious, which juxtaposed her usually sweet expressions. But the old, cheery smile came back, and she waved and skipped away to class, her two blond pigtails bouncing after her.

–––

"Brick!" Lloyd ran toward him waving a flyer the following Monday morning. "They've announced it! They've announced it!"

"They've announced what?" demanded Brick impatiently.

"The modeling theme. It's Greek gods and goddesses," Lloyd said between breaths.

"I have to dress up like a god? In a toga and shit?" Brick stared in disbelief.

"It's what the people want, Brick. And what the people want, the people get. Because the track team needs this win," Lloyd said in an almost threatening tone.

"Fine, but I'm picking the god, and I'm doing this my way."

"Uh, nothing too crazy, or inappropriate or else they'll kick you out of the competition. 'Cause we need to win. You know that, right?" Lloyd asked, a little worried about Brick's ideas.

"Yeah, yeah, sure."

"Another thing, Brick. The modeling part isn't your normal modeling. After you get your outfit, you wear it to school for the whole day. But, you have to stay in character with your person."

"In character? I thought this was modeling, not acting."

"It is, but it's just more interesting this way. So anyone can talk to you at any time, and you have to act like whichever god you chose. And at the end of the day, the people will vote. So make sure they vote for you."

"Right, right," Brick nodded as he walked off.

"Don't let us down!" Lloyd called after him.

–––

It was the following Monday, and contestants had been given one week to prepare their outfits. Brick rummaged through his closet and pulled out his toga. Yesterday, he'd gone to visit an old acquaintance, who was very good at sewing, to "ask" for a favor.

The black cloth draped comfortably over one shoulder and showed off Brick's toned, muscular arms. Just for today, he switched out his red baseball cap for a custom made helmet in the style of the Helm of Darkness. He then picked up a beautifully carved bird-topped scepter, and strapped on his black sandals. He stared at his reflection, admiring himself and his outfit.

"Watch out Townsville," Brick said to himself as he walked out the door. "Hades is coming, and he's bringing the Underworld with him."

–––

Several students moved toward the edges of the hallway, and even those who didn't understand what was happening naturally followed suit. Soon, the crowd had parted down the middle, creating a walkway for a single person. "What's going on?" people whispered, only to be shushed or given an off-handed mutter. Those in the back craned their necks to get a peek of the lone figure passing through. Draped in an elegant black toga, his well-built figure sauntered through the crowd. His staff was casually slung over his shoulder, and his crown rested comfortably on his head. He looked powerful and threatening, but in a way very pleasing to the eye. His dark figure contrasted his flaming red hair and fiery red eyes, seemingly created by hellfire itself. His chin was tilted slightly upward, creating the impression that he was looking down on everyone. He wore a sinister little smirk, apparently satisfied with the attention he was receiving.

"Is that…?" whispers continued.

"It is!"

"How can someone be so hot?"

"I am so voting for him!"

"Can I vote for him like fifty times?"

"I think he's supposed to be Hades, right?"

"I _have_ to get a picture of this!"

With his superhearing, Brick was listening to every little comment uttered by his classmates. He couldn't believe how easy people at this school were to please. _I am just too great,_ Brick grinned to himself. He snuck a few glances at the crowd and saw other contestants wearing togas, but his was by far the best. His self-praise was interrupted by the appearance of his track team.

"Brick, you nailed this thing!" Floyd exclaimed.

"We're gonna beat the basketball team! We're gonna beat the basketball team!" Lloyd sang. "I'm so happy I could almost kiss you!"

"Now you've turned Lloyd gay for you!" Johnny laughed, who was dressed in a royal purple cloth and was holding a cup of grape juice.

"Hey! I said almost!" Lloyd shouted.

In one swift movement, Brick (somewhat gently) brought his staff down on all their heads. "Don't," he growled, "touch me."

"Hey! That hurt," they protested.

Brick's smirk returned. "Just keeping in character, guys," he snickered as he walked away.

–––

"Brick, explain what the Truman Doctrine was," Mr. Somers ordered.

"Sorry," Brick grinned, "Hades doesn't feel like answering anything today."

"Excuse me, Brick?" Mr. Somers asked, half-threatening yet half-amused.

Brick gestured at his clothes and replied, "I gotta keep in character, you know? This contest means a lot to me and my team, so I'd really appreciate it if you helped me stay in character." For added measure, Brick put on his customer-friendly café smile.

"All right, all right," the teacher shook his head and smiled, "Just for today." Brick leaned back in his seat and put his feet on his desk. He grinned at the swooning girls at his side and smirked to himself. He'd have these people eating out of his hand by the end of the day.

After first period ended, Brick was approached by a very annoyed Blossom. "You're using this contest to slack off," she accused. She was wearing a long white toga lined with olive green and had a small olive branch intertwined in her loosely-done bun.

Brick replied, "Well, if you really must know, yes, yes I am. These people are ridiculously easy to please. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to go collect a few souls for the Underworld." With a wave of his hand, Brick left a pouting Blossom standing in the hallway.

–––

"Hey, Brick," Buttercup whispered to him at the beginning of second period. She had on a knee-length dark green toga with matching green gloves. A pack of arrows were slung on her back, and her bow rested next to her seat.

"What?" he demanded.

"Nice toga. I'd never've expected _you _to enter this."

"Back at ya. _I_ wouldn't have expected this from_ you_."

"Shut up. My team always forces me to enter, and Blossom and Bubbles's nagging doesn't help."

"Right. I bet you like the spotlight."

"Fuck you," she mouthed as she fingered her arrows.

"Are those real?" Brick asked, slightly wary.

"Wanna test them out?" Buttercup grinned menacingly. "Anyway, I actually meant to say that I need your homework," she reached for his paper, but he snatched it away. "Aww, c'mon. We're friends aren't we? Toga buddies?" She glanced at their teacher– soon they'd have to pass up their homework.

"Yeah, friends don't shoot each other with arrows. And you and your sisters tried to kill me and my brothers before."

"You tried to kill us too! That once you made us into a hockey puck– I still haven't gotten you back for that!"

"You blew us up, bitch."

"And you used us to play wrestling or whatever, bastard."

"Well, you don't want homework from a bastard like me, do you?"

"Wait, no please! C'mon I gave you my game!"

"And I lent you my car."

"Okay, okay, I'll owe you. Please, just lemme copy it!" Brick sighed, rolled his eyes, and handed her his paper. "Yes!" she yelled quietly and began scribbling furiously.

"Pass up your homework, everyone," Mrs. Moore said, just as Buttercup finished writing. She smugly passed up her paper and returned Brick's to him. "Okay, take out some notes. We'll be learning about acids and bases today," she began her lecture.

"Hey," Brick whispered, "has the next game arrived?"

"Huh? Oh, no, not yet. Although Nintendo emailed me saying they'll be giving me a beta of their new _Zelda_."

"_Zelda_? Never played that before."

"What? You've never played _Legend of Zelda_?" Buttercup yelled. But she'd forgotten they were in the middle of class.

"Buttercup! Brick! Be quiet," Mrs. Moore ordered.

"Sorry," Buttercup mumbled, and then to Brick, she whispered, "You've gotta come over and play it, man! No, I mean seriously. Blossom's sleeping over at her friend's today 'cause they're practicing for dance or something. And Bubbles and I don't mind."

"Wouldn't your dad get mad?" Brick asked.

"Eh, it's fine. Don't worry about him. I feel like I'm personally at fault that you haven't played _Zelda_ before. I have to educate the ignorant of this world, starting with you," she joked.

Brick chuckled and nodded, "Sure, why not?"

After work today, he'd be going over to the Powerpuff Girls' house. As a guest. This was a first.

–––

When Bubbles walked through the door in third period, Brick was pretty sure his face froze in a very stupid-looking expression. Her blond hair was almost always in pigtails, but today she let it down, and her loose curls bounced around her shoulders. Her rosy toga draped comfortably around her figure, and a slit that ran up to the middle of her thigh revealed a little peek of her legs. The little red rose in her hair topped it all off.

She chose the seat next to him, which surprised Brick, and greeted him with a simple "Hades."

"And you must be Aphrodite," Brick replied.

"Not bad, Brick. God of the Underworld really fits you," she grinned.

"Thanks," Brick said, and after a pause, he added, "Blue looks better on you."

"Oh, yeah, I know," she laughed, "but Blossom said Aphrodite should wear pink, so I took her advice."

"Oh screw that. You look better in blue."

"Thanks. Oh yeah!" she suddenly exclaimed. "Buttercup says you're coming to our house today?"

"Uh, yeah, she already told you?"

"Yeah, she told me to not tell Blossom 'cause she might get mad. Which is probably true."

"Yeah, Buttercup wants to show me a video game."

Bubbles gave a playful groan. "_That's _what you're coming over for?"

"Yeah, although I suspect that her ulterior motive is that while I'm distracted, she's gonna drive off with my car," Brick joked. As the two continued talking, they were a picturesque portrait of a handsome god and beautiful goddess. Even as they slowly became their classmates' centers of attention, the two remained oblivious and continued to enjoy each other's company, which would have been as unrealistic an idea a few months ago as Hades and Aphrodite actually conversing.

–––

"Hi Brick, you look great," Princess batted her eyelashes as she walked up to him in the cafeteria. She wore a lavender toga accented with a pair of peacock feather earrings.

"Uh, hey," Brick replied.

"You know," she said as she ran her palm over his arm, "since I'm like the hottest person here, and you're the second best-looking, we should hook up. Hades and Hera, doesn't that sound nice?"

"No. It doesn't," Brick snapped.

"Well excuse me," she scoffed, flipping her hair. "You're like totally new here, and hanging out with me is going to help your popularity _way _more than hanging out with those Powerpuffs. I'm offering you a chance to be with _the_ hottest and most popular girl in school, not to mention the richest–"

"You're not the hottest. You're not the most popular. Your make-up makes you look like a cheap prostitute. And I'm doing great without you, so get the fuck out of my face before I punch your face in," Brick glared at her, his expression unchanging as hers slowly became contorted in a furious snarl.

"Ugh! You _will_ regret this!" she cried before storming out of the cafeteria.

"Yeah, yeah, that's what they all say," Brick mumbled to himself.

"You really told her off," said an approaching Bubbles.

"That was great! I haven't seen her that angry since when you dumped your pasta on her last year!" Buttercup laughed, as they joined Brick at the table.

"What a waste of pasta," Brick sneered.

"She deserved it! She called me a whore, and then started bad-mouthing the rest of my cheer team!" Bubbles explained.

"Yeah, she did, that little bitch. Ah well, nothing like a little Princess-hating to stir up the appetite," Buttercup chuckled, then stuffed half her burger into her mouth.

"If she wins this year, I think I'll go crazy."

"Don' worwy." Buttercup swallowed before continuing, "She won't win. It's gonna be either you or Blossom this year."

"What about you?"

"I don't _want_ to win. Hell, I didn't even want to enter."

"You try pretty hard for someone who didn't want to enter," Brick pointed out, eying her get-up.

"I have a bow and arrows, and I'm not afraid to use them. So don't test me," Buttercup threatened.

"No fighting, you two. There're innocent people in here," Bubbles chided.

"Yes, Mother," Buttercup smirked before wolfing down the other half of her burger.

* * *

><p><strong>Brick is finally friends with two-thirds of the Powerpuffs! The other third is yet to be seen. <strong>

**I'm trying to make Brick slowly get nicer. Is it working? :) Feedback pwease.**


	11. Chapter 11

**For everyone who was wondering, Buttercup was dressed as Artemis and Blossom was dressed as Athena. Yeah, I picked Aphrodite for Bubbles because I was only thing of the "love" part :3**

**And if Boomer and Butch were here, Boomer would probably be Dionysus (or Apollo?) and Butch would be Ares. Or it'd be Brick as Zeus, Boomer as Poseidon, and Butch as Hades :D**

* * *

><p>"You guys, I'm bored," Bubbles whined. She had been watching Brick and Buttercup work their way through a stack of video games for three hours.<p>

"Hold on," Buttercup grunted, "Almost…there…yes! What _now_, Brick?"

"Dammit!" Brick pouted, having lost a race to Buttercup again.

"Suck that, bitches!" Buttercup did a little victory dance.

"Can we eat now? I'm hungry," Brick asked, although he actually just wanted to change the subject.

"Yes!" Bubbles answered, excited to do something other than watch them play games. "Lemme go make something really quick." She sped out of the room, leaving the other two to clean up their own mess.

"It's a good thing our dad had to leave for his meeting," Buttercup grinned, "or else he'd still be fuming. Although he probably is, just not in our faces." After they finished cleaning up, they went to join Bubbles in the kitchen.

Brick laughed, "Thanks for having me over though. You guys are a lot better than I'd've imagined."

"What? Did you think we'd rip you to shreds and sell your organs on the black market?"

"Honestly, I'm pretty sure you'd have done that ten years ago."

"Yeah, we probably would have."

"Blossom probably still wants to," Bubbles piped up. "She was fuming when she left."

"Yeah what was with that, man?" Buttercup demanded. "I mean, sure, we're video game buds, but that's still not cool."

"I dunno, I just felt like…doing something," Brick shrugged. "Sometimes it gets boring."

"Well, was a week of detention worth it?" Bubbles asked.

"Eh, more or less. But enough about me, is the food ready?"

"Don't be so impatient. But yes, it is." Bubbles gave Brick and Buttercup their plates, each with a huge serving of Fettuccine Alfredo tossed around with peas, bacon, and chicken, and two slices of garlic bread.

"Pasta!" Buttercup screamed, elated.

"Yup," Bubbles smiled. "Eat up, you guys." Buttercup started wolfing down her food, and after Brick stuffed a spoonful of pasta into his mouth, he began to match her pace. In ten minutes, they'd both finished their whole plates.

"That was amazing," Brick admitted. "Is this all from scratch?"

"Yes, it is. I pride myself in my Italian food, if I may say so. Seconds?" she asked, reaching for their plates as he and Buttercup fervently nodded yes.

"Bubbles's pasta is heaven. Usually she only makes it on special occasions, so savor it while it lasts," Buttercup explained dreamily.

"And for dessert, we have tiramisu," her sister added.

"Have I ever told you you're an angel?"

"No, but I wouldn't mind hearing that everyday," Bubbles joked as she brought them their second servings and set down the tiramisu cake. The rest of the dinner passed comfortably, filled with gourmet food and endless chatting.

–––

"Hey let's check who made it to the next round," Buttercup suggested after all the dishes had been washed.

"Why do we need to check? I know _I _got in," Brick grinned haughtily.

"Yeah, yeah, we all know you think you're the shit, but I'd like to know _who else_ got in," she explained as she clicked the link to the posted results.

"Who got in? Who got in?" Bubbles asked, eagerly peering over her sister's shoulder.

"Well, we all did–"

"Toldja so," Brick interjected.

"–and Blossom. And let's see, ugh, Princess."

"How the hell'd that bitch get in?"

"Money, Brick, money."

"Oh, just keep reading, Buttercup."

"Hey, Jane and Cindy both got in. Why is it that half girls are on your cheer team?"

"If you must know, my girls are always motivated and ready to give one hundred percent!"

"Don't gimme that bullshit Bubbles."

"Fine. I threatened to put them at the bottom of the pyramid for our next performance if they didn't go all out," she mumbled sheepishly.

"Head bitch in charge, aren't you?"

"Shut up. What about the boys?" Bubbles changed the topic. She pointed to the boys' list, "Hey, Mitch got in too!"

"Why do you sound surprised, Bubbles?"

"For a couple that seem like they're above all this shit, you two sure wanna win."

"Fuck off, Brick. No one asked you."

"Just saying."

"Oh my God! If you two both made it into the last round and then you were paired together, you could perform something super cute!" Bubbles let out a very excited squeal.

"Yeah, no."

"Oh, hey! Isn't that Johnny from your track team, Brick? And hey Mike's on this list too! And Dave and Kyle, too!"

"Wait, who're Dave and Kyle?"

"Dave from swim, the blond one. And Kyle from soccer, the really cute one."

"The one who asked you to that dance last year?" The corner of Brick's mouth unconsciously twitched downward.

"Homecoming, and yes. You should've come with us."

"Yeah, no. Anyway they actually cut out a lot of people."

Brick finally spoke up, "Half these idiots didn't even try. And I can't say much for many of 'em who did, either."

"Well, next up's the talent competition," Buttercup frowned. "Can I just quit now?"

"No! Besides, you promised your team," Bubbles reminded her.

"I hate promises. What am I supposed to do anyway?"

"You could…play guitar?"

"Did that last year."

"Karate demonstration?"

"Ehhh…"

"Oh, I know!" Brick said. "You can grab a bunch of people and beat them all up. It's what you do best anyway."

"You're right," Buttercup replied, cracking her knuckles, "it's what I do best."

"You're not actually going to do that, are you?" Bubbles asked.

But Buttercup only shrugged before asking, "What about you? What are you gonna do?"

"I was thinking either a gymnastics performance like last year or singing."

"Hey, why don't you cook something?" Brick suggested.

"Cook something? Like a cooking show?"

"Yeah, you can use the home ec room, and you can cook a meal, and let the judges decide."

"You know, Brick, that's actually not a bad idea."

"Thank you. I'm brilliant, I know."

"Well then, what can you do?" Buttercup turned to him.

"Uh, I can…beat people up."

"No," Bubbles interjected.

"I can cook a bit."

"Sorry, I'm using that idea."

Brick paused, during which time Buttercup remarked, "For someone so big-headed, you have a hard time thinking of something."

"Bitch," Brick muttered.

"Well, can you dance?" Bubbles asked.

"Never tried."

"Can you draw?"

"A bit."

"Then you can do that!"

"Bubbles, be realistic. It's a talent show. He can't whip up a masterpiece in the few minutes he's given."

"Oh, all right. Well, can you sing?"

"I guess."

"Okay, sing something!"

"Like what?"

"How about…Somewhere Only We Know? It's your favorite song right?"

"Uh, okay then." Brick cleared his throat, then began to sing, "_I walked across an empty land, I knew the pathway like the back of ha-and. I felt the earth beneath my feet, sat by the river and it made me comple-_" He suddenly stopped, noticing the girls' shocked expressions and gaping mouths. "Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Wow," Buttercup whispered trance-like. "You're as good as Bubbles."

Bubbles shook her head, as if trying to focus, "That was really good, Brick. A lot better than I'd ever expected, actually."

"I can't tell if you're complimenting me or insulting me."

"Anyway," she said, looking away, "you should sing. Seriously. But first, let's decide what song you should sing."

"Can't I just sing that?"

"Can you play the piano?"

"I can play by ear."

Bubbles scrutinized him before she slowly agreed, "Not bad, Brick. Alright, then. Let's hear you play."

"You guys have a piano?"

"Bubbles plays," Buttercup explained as the girls led him down a hall to a sitting room, decorated with expensive-looking paintings and vases. A long bookshelf lined the walls, and the piano made the centerpiece.

"Professor actually changed this room to another living room so he could invite the other members of his science club thing here," Bubbles said. She sat down at the piano and started humming the song to herself. After a pensive pause, she placed her fingers on the keys and began playing. Perfectly. Then she began singing, and at this point, Brick's mouth was gaping open.

She stopped midway after stumbling a bit, and apologized, "Sorry, I need more practice."

"No, no, that was great!" Brick profusely objected. "I didn't– wow, that was just– you're really good– I didn't expect– wow."

"Thanks," she replied, blushing slightly. A slightly awkward silence fell, which Bubbles hastily interrupted by saying to Brick, "Here, you try." Brick took a seat in front of the piano and began playing what he could remember. Where he faltered, Bubbles taught him. Where he stumbled, Bubbles corrected him. They spent a long while learning the song, as Buttercup sat contentedly listening on the sofa.

When came time for Brick to leave, he gave his thanks and said his farewells, and spent the car ride home singing at the top of his lungs.

* * *

><p><strong>Wow this chapter took way longer than it should have, especially considering that it was so short and pretty much all dialogue. Sorry :(<strong>

**Reviews/constructive criticism always appreciated. **


	12. Chapter 12

"_So if you have a minute, why don't we go talk about it somewhere only we know? This could be the end of everything, so why don't we go somewhere only we know?_" Brick was belting out his favorite song while playing the piano in the theater. Beyond the stage were the students at his school, eagerly watching his performance, and in the first row sat the ten "unbiased students" (six of whom were screaming girls fawning over him, and four of whom were guys secretly jealous of him) who were to judge his performance.

Before him, Princess had performed, and she'd modeled her own clothing designs or something, and hell, Brick didn't know why anyone would want to be caught dead in anything like that. She looked like she was wearing potato sacks. A performance like that wouldn't be hard to beat.

So as Brick sang and played, he was confident that he was going to win. And his confidence could be heard in his voice and piano-playing, which made his performance all the better. His clear, strong voice rang out with such passion that he earned a standing ovation. With his customary smug look, he bowed and walked off stage. He passed Blossom, who was going to perform her own dance routine. Brick's smug expression earned him a look of contempt from the redhead, but Brick could care less right now– he was enjoying the standing ovation too much.

"Hey," Brick whispered to Bubbles backstage. "So?"

"You were amazing!" she praised. "You know, I would've never imagined you such a great singer. I guess it's all thanks to your great teacher, huh?"

"All thanks to my great teacher," Brick repeated, only half-jokingly. "Oh hey, yours went great, too!"

"Really, you think so? You think the judges liked it?" Bubbles asked. "I was so afraid the pasta was a little bit overcooked. And did the sauce have enough flavor? And I don't think I put enough wine in the tiramisu–"

"Calm down," Brick said, clamping his hand over her mouth. "The food was amazing. I mean it– it looked amazing, it smelled amazing, it tasted- it tasted more than amazing, okay? So when I let go, you're going take a deep breath and congratulate yourself, because if you're not picked as a finalist, then I will have to completely redefine my idea of a five-star meal."

Brick slowly retracted his hand, and when Bubbles didn't continue her rant, he wrapped his arm around her shoulders and gave her a friendly hug. She twisted around and wrapped her arms around his shoulders, about to whisper something, when Lloyd ran up to them. Brick and Bubbles awkwardly pulled out of their hug, as Brick stuffed his hands into his pockets and Bubbles turned away and crossed her arms.

"Oh, uh, well this is…kinda," Lloyd mumbled after realizing what had been going on.

Floyd ran in, and completely unaware of the situation, said with a mocking swoon, "Oh Brick, serenade me with your beautiful voice, will you?"

"The only thing serenading you, Floyd, will be my fist," Brick growled.

"Okay tough guy, but we all know deep inside, you're just a softie with a beautiful voice," Floyd said, patting Brick's head. "Seriously though, the ladies are screaming for you outside. Let's go."

"But I don't- I don't want to–" Brick protested uselessly as Floyd pulled him away.

"Um, hey Brick," Bubbles called after him.

"Yeah?"

"Um, thanks. And I'll see you in the next round?"

"Count on it."

–––

"Hey, what're you doing out here?" Lloyd approached Brick on the track field the next day during lunch.

"I thought I'd do a bit of running," Brick shrugged.

"What, you don't eat?"

"I'm not an alien, you know. I eat. I'm just not hungry today," Brick explained, starting to jog along the track.

"Hey wait!" Lloyd called as he ran after Brick.

"I don't wait. You have to catch up to me," Brick chuckled, speeding up.

"No fair, you're way faster than me!"

"Hey, I'm going at a normal pace right now."

"What you call normal, I call fast. Hell, you could run this whole track in less than a second."

"Less than half a second, my friend. But that's only if I use my powers. If I don't, well, then I'm just a normal runner like you. I'm just much faster than you, that's all."

"Normal, my ass," Lloyd muttered, panting as he finally caught up with Brick. "Oh hey, you did great yesterday. I didn't know you could sing."

"I didn't really know either. I actually got a lot of help from Bubbles."

"Yeah, what I actually wanted to talk about was, um, what's up with, uh, you and Bubbles?"

"Wh-what?" Brick stammered. "Nothing- nothing's up. We're just friends. You know, just congratulating each other."

"Really? 'Cause, um, it looked like she was about to kiss you."

"What?" Brick stopped dead in his tracks. "N-no! She was gonna say something, thank me. Yeah, she was gonna thank me. Wait- did it really look like…?"

"I dunno. I don't wanna make any assumptions here, you know."

"Of course. Of course not. No assumptions."

Lloyd's lip turned upward into a sly grin. "You like her. You really really like her. Oh God, this is amazing! Floyd was right! You are a softie!"

"Hey! I-I'm," Brick tried to protest, unable to find the words.

"Wittle Bwickie is a softie! Wittle Bwickie has a cwush! Awww how cute!" Loyd teased, bursting into a sprint after seeing the evil gleam in Brick's eyes.

"Lloyd!" Brick howled as he ran after his friend.

"Ahhh! Please don't kill me! I have a family!" Lloyd begged as he raced forward, occasionally glancing back at his pursuer.

–––

"Firstly, I want to congratulate everyone who participated in our Mr. and Miss Townsville contest. You are all winners," the idealistic principal was about to announce the finalists. "And a big thank you to everyone who helped in any way, be it setting up, cleaning, or judging. Thank you." The smatter of applause from the students died out when the principal opened his mouth again. "And finally, I will announce our finalists. Our three female finalists, please come up as you are called: Blossom Utonium, Bubbles Utonium (here Brick cheered), and Princess Morbucks. Good job, ladies." The three girls got on stage as they were called, shook hands with the principal, and took their places on his left. Blossom was calm and composed; she stood quietly, with only a small smile on her face. Bubbles, on the other hand, was beaming. She wore a big smile that revealed very nice, white teeth, and her eyes were sparkling with joy. She gave small waves to all her friends, including Brick. Princess, meanwhile, the haughty brat that she was, was flipping her hair and preening herself, all the while, managing to look as if she were better than everyone else in the room.

"And now for our male finalists," the principal continued. "We have Mitch Michelson, Mike Believe, and Brick Jojo." At Brick's name, there was an abundance of high-pitched squeals, but Brick paid them no attention, as he was busy waving to Bubbles. The three boys filed onstage, taking their spots to the right of the principal, who spoke again, "Now I have the names of the boys and girls in these two separate boxes. I will pick one name from each at a time, and that's how we'll decide your partners for the final round. Are you ready?" Cheers from the audience answered his question, and he reached into the two boxes and pulled out a slip of paper from each. "Our first group is… Bubbles and Mitch!" The two walked toward each other, shook hands, and walked to the side of the stage together.

Shit. Brick had wanted to partner up with Bubbles. He'd already thought about what they could do together. They could sing a duet. A really really good duet. They would've nailed the final contest. Fuck. Why couldn't they pick their partners? Oh God, wait. If Bubbles was with Mitch, then the only two people he could be paired up with were Princess and– "Blossom and Brick!" the principal announced the second group. Brick's lip inadvertently curled in disgust upon hearing that announcement. Realizing he was still on stage, he walked toward to Blossom and forced himself to shake her hand. It almost became a who-can-crush-the-other-person's-hand contest, but upon hearing the principal cough, the two let go, plastered on some fake smiles, and walked over to Bubbles and Mitch, and were soon joined by Princess and Mike, who looked half-upset and half-afraid.

As the students cheered and the principal continued talking, Bubbles whispered to Blossom and Brick, "Okay you two, I can feel the hate emanating in waves off of you guys. You guys wanna win right? Well you're going to have to work together. As in, with each other."

"Can we switch partners? I'd rather not work with a jackass," Blossom seethed.

"Yeah, well I don't wanna work with a bitch, either," Brick growled back.

Bubbles stepped in, pushing them apart, "Guys, we're still on stage. Smile, breathe, and calm down. Let's just all get along, okay?"

"You are too happy for a crisis like this," Blossom complained before turning away.

"This is what you call a crisis?" Brick asked. "A crisis is a hurricane. A crisis is a tsunami. A crisis–"

"Is three dumbass boys terrorizing a town and its citizens. Picking up planes, ships, and buses and threatening to kill the people in them. That's a crisis," Blossom snarled.

"Okay, that's it! Mitch help me break 'em up," Bubbles demanded, pulling Blossom away from Brick. "You!" she pointed at her sister, "You need calm down, and maybe forgive and forget?"

"You can just keep pretending everything's great, Bubbles, but there are things I can't overlook," Blossom said before turning away from her sister.

"Brick," Bubbles turned to him, "just don't upset her okay?"

"I didn't do anything!"

"I know, I know. Just, be nice."

"Okay, okay," Brick mumbled. They would have to perform whatever act they had the Monday right after spring break. Which meant they'd have to actually meet and plan and practice. Which meant this was gonna be one hell of a spring break.

* * *

><p><strong>Brick's last name should be Him, right? It sounds kinda funny though. <strong>

**Well, the next chapter will mark the beginning of spring break, and the appearance of some surprise visitors! :D**

***Edit: I changed Brick's last name to "Jojo" since it does seem that's the more commonly used one, so thanks for telling me guys (and it sounds better)**


	13. Chapter 13

Brick jolted up at the sound of a crash. He fumbled for his alarm clock, which read 5:09 AM. Grumpy from the rude awakening, Brick floated out of bed, ready to take out whichever idiot decided to disturb his sleep this early in the morning. He noticed a gaping hole in the wall, and with his enhanced senses guiding him through the dark, he noticed someone lying on his living room floor.

"Die, you bastard!" Brick screamed, shooting toward the intruder. But the person moved aside, and Brick barely maneuvered out of crashing into the ground.

"Hey, it's me!" the person yelled.

"Wait, Butch?"

"The one and only."

"Oh, well, in that case… die you bastard!" The words had barely left Brick's mouth before he fired his eyebeams at his brother, who again swiftly moved aside then returned the welcome. Brick ducked under Butch's eyebeams, zoomed toward Butch, and gave him a punch that sent him flying through the roof. "Wow, repairs aren't gonna be cheap," Brick grumbled. "Oh well, I'll make Butch pay for–ARGH!" Butch had shot back through the hole dealing a kick that propelled Brick against the wall.

"What the hell?" a third voice screamed. Brick turned his attention to a shadow standing in front of the hole in the living room wall.

"Boomer?" Butch asked. With Butch slightly distracted, Brick took the chance to axe kick him down onto the ground.

"That's for waking me up," Brick growled. "Anyway, I should be asking 'what the hell.' But since Boomer already used that line, I guess that leaves me with what the fuck are you two doing here? At _five in the morning_?"

"That's a funny story," Boomer chuckled nervously. "You see, Him said I could stay with you for spring break."

"So why are you here at _five in the morning?_" Brick demanded.

"I thought I'd help myself to some of your food before you woke up," Boomer grinned sheepishly.

"Oh, oh, I see then," Brick nodded. Without a moment's hesitation, he threw his couch in Boomer's face. "Now then, Butch, what's your excuse?"

"Well, it's spring break, and I haven't gotten the chance to visit. So my school just let us out this morning, 'cause they wanted us to clean up the entire place before we left, so now here I am," Butch beamed, gesturing at his luggage, which had been messily tossed on the ground.

"That doesn't explain why you crashed through the wall."

"I thought it'd be more fun that way."

"Boomer, hand me the couch."

–––

After many more rounds of fighting, resulting in more than a few bruises and black eyes (which were already healing thanks to Chemical X) and much broken furniture, the boys were sitting at the dining table eating just-delivered pizza.

"Him's gonna throw a fit when he find out how much repairs are gonna cost," Boomer remarked.

"That's why Butch is gonna be the one to tell him," Brick said.

"Fair enough," Butch shrugged.

"So, my brothers, do we have any plans for spring break?" Boomer asked.

"I haven't been here in so long. Can't we go terrorize some citizens?" Butch begged.

"Yeah, go for it. And after you get in trouble and Him finds out, I'm not cleaning up your remains," said Brick.

"Fine, fine," Butch grumbled.

"Haven't you been invited to any parties at all, Brick?" Boomer asked.

"Uh yeah, actually, remember Princess? She's having a party tonight at her place. And then someone's having a beach party tomorrow, and I think there's something else some other day," Brick answered.

"So we do have plans for break!" Boomer exclaimed

"What? You wanna go to Princess's party? Do you remember her at all? I mean, she was annoying before, but now she's this attention-whoring bitch," Brick complained.

"A party's a party, my brother," Butch smiled.

"Free food!" Boomer cheered.

"Is food the only thing that runs through your mind, Boomer?"

"No! Well maybe. Yeah, pretty much."

–––

"Hurry up!" Brick yelled. It was almost seven o'clock, and his brother still weren't ready. What did it take to throw on a nice shirt and some jeans? They were the ones who'd wanted to go to this stupid party. Brick just wanted to stay home and do nothing– that last week at school had been too tiring. But no, he had to go to a party– Princess's party, no less. The only people who'd be there would be her little cheer team, or whatever. Although it was rumored that she was the invite-everyone type. So maybe people he knew would be there? It'd be nice to have some friends there, so at least he wouldn't be bored out of his mind.

Brick glanced at the mirror. A clean, white T-shirt under a bright red unbuttoned collared shirt. It was a very nice layered look, in his humble opinion. He removed his cap and ran his fingers through his hair. A red cap on his flaming red hair along with a red shirt and red shoes. Wow, he wore a lot of red. But it always worked. It always looked good on him. But colors like green or blue looked wrong when he wore them. But blue, blue did look great on some people.

"Hey, you done staring at yourself?" Boomer chuckled.

"I was just staring because you two were taking your sweet time," Brick retorted.

"Yeah, right," Boomer said dubiously.

"Butch, don't you dare touch that wheel. I'm driving," Brick yelled, already sensing what his brother was up to. He hopped into the driver's seat, and without even checking if his brothers were ready, slammed down on the gas pedal.

–––

"Wow, I'd heard the rumors and all, but this place is huge!" Boomer exclaimed as they drove up Princess's driveway.

"She even has a valet service," Brick remarked, handing his keys to the gentlemen standing near the looming front doors. The boys entered, marveling at the architectural style of the mansion, the fine materials with which it was made, and just the pure extravagance it exuded.

"What exactly does this girl's parents do? 'Cause whatever it is, sign me up," Butch whispered to himself.

"Brick!" a shrill voice called. Brick turned to see the hostess herself coming to welcome them. "Are these your brothers? They're as cute as you! I'm so glad you could come. This is the foyer, but of course, it's nothing. You have to come to the courtyard- that's where the real party is." She babbled on, leading the boys through the house to the garden. As they walked, the music and voices grew louder and louder until they reached the courtyard, where the noise just exploded. "Well, would you boys like a tour of house?" Princess yelled over the music. Choosing not to answer the question, Brick dove into the crowd, but not before hearing Boomer request, "Can I get a tour of the kitchen?"

Relieved to be free of Princess's company, Brick was able to enjoy himself a bit more, taking comfort in the familiar faces. That girl really was the invite-everyone type.

"Brick?" someone, turning out to be Lloyd, asked.

"Hey Lloyd!" Brick was glad to see his friend, who, Brick realized after another glance, was busy grinding with a girl.

"Hey your girlfriend's over there," Lloyd yelled, gesturing to the edges of the crowd.

"Who's my –? Oh, very funny," Brick said, rolling his eyes. Thanking his friend, he pushed his way through the crowd to where Lloyd had pointed, and spotted a cute blonde standing in a circle of friends wearing a white halter top tucked into a baby blue miniskirt. Brick snuck up behind her and clasped his hands over her eyes, and asked, "Guess who?"

"Brick," she answered, without a moment's hesitation.

"Wow, you're good," Brick remarked.

"I can just tell it's you," she grinned.

"Well I didn't expect to see you here, you know, what with your relationship with Princess and all."

"That's true, but her party's open to everyone," she laughed. "And Robin insisted that we come! Even Buttercup's here, and she hates these parties."

"It's true, I do," Buttercup admitted.

"Hey care to dance?" Bubbles asked, offering her hand.

"Let's," Brick grinned, taking her hand and leading her out to the dance floor. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, while he wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body closer to his. They were quiet at first, but after while, their bodies synchronized with the music, and Bubbles looked up, grinning.

"So what're you doing here?" she asked. "From what I remembered, you don't like our hostess much either."

"Actually, my brothers are in town," Brick admitted. "And they wanted to come."

"Your brothers? Both of them?" Bubbles asked, surprised.

"Yeah, they're both here," Brick answered, looking around to see if either were in sight. "Boomer's hanging around the kitchen and Butch is probably destroying something."

"You know, Boomer's kinda cute," she grinned.

"Hey, how can you tell me my brother's cute, when you're here rubbing your body against mine?"

"I never said you weren't cute. In fact, I think you're cuter, and you've got a great voice."

"But you've got a voice and the ability to cook Michelin-worthy food," he praised.

"Oh stop," she blushed, "you flatter me."

"Only because," Brick hesitated, looking away, "only because you really deserve it. I…I don't give out compliments often so you should be honored." He turned back to her and grinned.

"Don't worry, Brick, I'm very honored," she smiled.

"Hey," he said in a more serious tone, "I wanna thank you. For trusting me…for being a good friend, and for giving me a second chance, especially after my questionable behavior as a kid."

"Everyone deserves a second chance…you're a good person, you know that? It might take some time for some people to see that, but I know it's true."

"You really are just a lovely, sweet little thing, aren't you?" he grinned, staring into her sparkling blue eyes.

"So I've been told," she chuckled, leaning forward slightly.

Maybe it was their words, or the music, or the nice setting of the party, or just the moment in general, but whatever it was, Brick couldn't care less. He stopped moving and leaned down, slowly pressing his lips against hers. He felt her kiss him back, and he could taste her vanilla lip gloss, and he could smell her distinct flowery perfume. When she finally pulled away, Brick wanted to pull her back.

"C'mon," she giggled, grabbing his hand and pulling him through the crowd. She guided him down a path deeper into the garden until they arrived at a huge, sparkling fountain with three playful dolphins frozen in the center spraying water everywhere, all painted over in what seemed to be gold. The music had faded to a dull thump, and they were happily alone.

"How'd you even find this place?" Brick asked.

"Well I've been here before a couple of times. She throws parties non-stop, you know," Bubbles remarked. "And as a kid, I've flown over this garden hundreds of times to admire this fountain. It's beautiful, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it is," Brick whispered.

"I always wished that I could have a fountain like this. Don't tell anyone, but once, a long time ago, I came down here when there wasn't anyone around, and I just splashed around in here, pretending it was mine," she sheepishly admitted.

"Must've been fun," he said, "but no where near as fun as this!" With those words, he pushed Bubbles into the fountain. She let out a little scream before falling in with a splash. She stood up, soaked from head to toe, and laughed.

"I will have you know, that this is my favorite skirt," she said sternly. Bubbles walked over to Brick, and with a jerk, pulled him head-first into the fountain.

"And I'll have you know, that this is my favorite shirt," Brick replied. He cupped a handful of water and threw it at her. She responded by kicking up a small wave of water at him, and stuck her tongue out in mockery. "Alright then, it's on!" Brick yelled, running over to Bubbles. He swiftly picked her up, and despite her struggles, carried her to the center and dunked her under the spray. She finally twisted out of his hold and floated away from the stream of water.

Bubbles landed near another stream and directed it right toward Brick. "Had enough?" she laughed playfully. Suddenly they heard voices not far off, and instinctively, the two ducked down and crouched along one side of the fountain. The footsteps came and went, and the voices subsided. Brick turned to look at Bubbles, who was much closer than he'd realized, and laughed. She in turn giggled and burst out laughing, and soon the two soaked beings were sitting in the fountain and laughing. When they'd calmed down, Brick stood up, only then realizing how cold it was. He helped Bubbles up and suggested they go inside.

"She gotta have a fireplace somewhere," he said as they flew over the garden and into the house.

"Please, she has about ten," Bubbles chuckled, leading Brick to the living room where an ornate fireplace sat against the wall. She lit a fire, while Brick ran off to find some clean towels. He came back, draped a towel over her shoulders, and pulled one over himself. They sat comfortably in front of the warm fire, slowly drying themselves off.

"I can definitely see why you'd want a fountain like that," Brick said.

"Yeah, it's like the size of a small pool," Bubbles added.

"So, uh, you have any plans for tomorrow?"

"I'm going to the beach party. Are you?"

"Definitely."

"Oh, and I'm meeting up with Mitch to plan something out for the contest. What about you?"

"Well, I haven't really talked to your sister yet. You remember how our little conversation on stage went, right?"

"The whole school does. And she's a nice person, you know– she just…holds grudges."

"Your sister hates my guts. If she had her way, I'd be dead, or shipped off to the next solar system at least."

"Oh, be nice."

"It's kinda hard to be nice to someone who'd rather be beating the crap out of you." After a slight pause, he mumbled, "Not that I'd mind seeing the crap getting beat out of her."

"Hey!" Bubbles interjected. "She's my sister, and I love her, okay?"

"Yeah, yeah, I know."

"Listen, I grew up with no mom, and many times, Blossom's been that mom for me and Buttercup. And I respect her for that. In fact, ever since we were young, I've always looked up to her. I mean, she's smart, she thinks before she acts, she's always calm and composed, and…she's Blossom."

"Hey, you're just as great– no you're better, okay?"

"Thanks, Brick," Bubbles smiled at him. "But my point is, I've always admired Blossom, and she's always been a great sister, even if she can be a bit unforgiving and somewhat narrow-minded. But it pains me to hear someone talk about her like that."

"Alright, I'm sorry," Brick mumbled.

"Thank you," she said, giving a small peck on the cheek. "You guys should really meet and plan something out. And um, hey, let's keep this whole thing between us, okay?"

"What whole thing?" Brick asked slowly.

"The, um, kiss and the fountain and um, this. Because, you know, Blossom _would_ freak, and so would other people, so maybe after Blossom stops hating your guts, we can, you know," she said, looking away.

"Wait, wha–?" Brick asked, but was cut off by a loud crash and commotion coming from the courtyard.

"What happened?" Bubbles asked before running off to see what had happened.

"Great, just great," Brick muttered to himself. "Keep it a stupid secret. What's that supposed to mean? Fuck." He punched the ground, leaving a crack in the wooden floor, before leaving for the courtyard as well.

Brick arrived just in time to see Butch punch some guy in the face. The boy flew into the wall, and a soft crack could be heard amidst the gasps of the crowd. Brick stepped forward, about to confront his brother, but was beat to it by the three Powerpuffs.

"What are you doing?" Blossom demanded.

"Well, well, well, if it isn't the Powerpuff Girls," Butch smirked. "Long time no see."

"Butch?" Buttercup asked.

"The one and only," he grinned.

"I'll give you one chance to give me an excuse before we send you flying," Blossom demanded.

"You couldn't send me flying if you tried," Butch challenged.

"One…two…" Blossom counted. On the count of three, she pulled her fist back and aimed for Butch's face. However, her fist never made contact with it. Brick had stepped in and had caught Blossom's punch.

"If anyone gives my brother shit, it's gonna be me," Brick declared. He turned away from a glaring Blossom toward a grinning Butch. "Well then, bro, what the hell were you thinking?"

"Hey, he punched me first," Butch insisted, raising his hands in a defensive gesture.

"You were fucking flirting with my girlfriend," the boy, who was surprisingly still conscious, groaned.

"So? A little harmless flirting never hurt anyone. Except for you, I guess," Butch shrugged.

"Okay there you have it. That guy punched Butch first," Brick said, turning back to Blossom.

"That's not an excuse for breaking his bones! Now, leave! Before I make you," she threatened.

"Hey, it's not your party, it's not your call. So if you don't like it, why don't you leave?" Brick growled.

"Brick," Bubbles whispered in a scolding tone.

Brick made a face before adding, "Please." He had the satisfaction of watching Blossom storm off angrily. The crowd remolded itself into a clump and the party went on, as if the little tussle had never happened.

Bubbles turned and whispered, "Hey, between us okay?"

"Okay," Brick grumbled.

"Bye," she waved and ran off after her sister.

"So, what were you really thinking?" Brick asked Butch again.

"I was thinking I needed a good fight, and I needed an excuse to have one," Butch answered.

"I thought so. And? Was it a good fight?"

"No, not even. The guys back at school could put up a better fight in their sleep. And c'mon I just broke a few bones, and he's already whining for his mommy."

"Hey, I heard a crash out here. What'd I miss?" Boomer, who had just appeared carrying two trays full of food and drinks, asked.

"Not much, just a little harmless play," Butch answered.

"What, are you a waiter now?" Brick asked, eying the trays of food.

"No way! These are for me," Boomer insisted.

"If you say so," Brick chuckled, swiftly grabbing a plate of food and a can of soda.

"Hey!" Boomer objected. Brick laughed as Boomer unsuccessfully tried to guard his food from Butch. He could kinda understand what Bubbles was saying. As odd and stupid as they sometimes were, these two idiots were his brothers, and (not that he'd ever admit it out loud) he loved them.


	14. Chapter 14

**Wow sorry for being away for so long. I've actually been a lot busier than I'd have expected this summer, but here's the next chapter! **

**I promise I'll try to update faster- this one actually did take a bit longer to write cuz I couldn't decide what to do for some of the scenes. :|**

* * *

><p>Brick knocked on the door of the familiar white house. An annoyed redhead answered, demanding what he wanted.<p>

"Contest," Brick mumbled, glaring back.

"Oh that," she replied, sighing, "well I found out that the school didn't like the partnerships so they repicked them. And now you're with Bubbles."

Ha! As if that would ever happen, Brick thought to himself as he drove, although a small part of him still prayed that it would. He had left his brothers with the excuse that he was off to study with a classmate, which they dubiously accepted. Brick parked in front of the house and grudgingly knocked on the door.

After a long while, it was wrung open by a very grumpy Buttercup, sporting a messy head of hair, a green tank top, and baggy sweats. "The Professor's at a meet– Oh it's you. Whaddya want?" she asked groggily.

"Uh, hey, is your sister here?" Brick asked.

"She's off practicing with Mike. You wanna leave a message or somethin'?" she grumbled.

"No, I meant…the other one. We have to decide what to do for the competition," he explained.

"Ah," Buttercup raised an eyebrow in amusement and said, "Come in." She let him pass, slammed the door shut, and hollered, "Blossom! Your best friend's here!"

"Hey!" Brick objected.

"What?" she grinned. After a big yawn, Buttercup scratched her tummy, and warned, "Don't bother me again, okay? I'm going back to sleep."

"Who's my best– oh, it's you," Blossom grimaced when she saw the figure in the hallway.

"Yes, it's _me,_" Brick uttered bitterly.

"Okay, children, play nice," Buttercup ordered before disappearing off to her room.

"Well," Blossom cleared her throat, "while you were busy destroying cities and terrorizing citizens, _I_ was choreographing a dance rou–"

"Hold on," Brick demanded. "What's your problem? When was the last time I blew up a building? Huh? When was the last time I picked on a random citizen?"

"You did it once– well more than once– you can do it again. I don't buy this 'reformed' act."

"Act? It's not a fucking act! I'm exactly as free to do whatever the hell I want as you think. And you know what? I know what your problem is."

"Oh, _do_ tell."

"You have a stick up your ass! You're so fucking serious about your little 'protect Townsville' act!"

"Will you stop using such language?"

"Oh, fuck! Did I upset the stick up your _ass_? I'm so _fucking_ sorry! And when was the last fucking time I fucking did _anything_?"

"Hmmm, let me see. Ten years ago, you damaged city property, hurt innocent bystanders, made a _hockey puck_ out of me and my sisters!"

"Yeah, ten years ago, Mojo was trying to kill you guys! Him was trying to kill you guys! And have they done anything to you recently? Why aren't you breathing down their necks?"

"They–"

"Exactly! So why don't you _suck it up_ and _get on with your fucking life_!"

"Okay, that's it!" Buttercup slammed open the door, her face contorted with frustration and annoyance. "It's only 10 in the morning and I can't fall back asleep with you two yelling like this! Bubbles may like to deal with your fights nicely, but obviously that. Doesn't. Fucking. Work." She stalked over to the two and draped one arm around each of them. "I have no scruples about this," she smiled peacefully, before grabbing a fistful of their hair and slamming their heads against each other. The act took Brick and Blossom by such surprise that neither had enough time to react. However, Chemical X saved them from any serious damage and each backed off with only a mild pain in their foreheads.

"What the fuck?" Brick hollered, as Blossom screeched, "Buttercup!"

"Hate all you want– just don't yell," she shrugged. "And now that we've established that yelling equals angry Buttercup equals pain, you two can continue doing whatever shit you were doing. So what _were _you doing?"

"Well, before _someone_ threw a tantrum–" Blossom began.

"_I _threw a tantrum? You threw a fucking bitch fit!" Brick yelled.

"Shut up! Just shut up right now," Buttercup ordered, "and tell me what the fuck you were doing."

Blossom cleared her throat, "I was telling him how I'd choreographed a dance routine."

"I don't dance," Brick interjected.

"_Can_ you even dance?" Buttercup asked.

"Never tried," Brick muttered.

"But you _can_ sing and play piano," Buttercup mused. "Hmm, so why don't you play something while Blossom dances to it. And you can even join her part way. Suckers at our school love sappy shit like that. Wow, I am a genius. And right now, a very hungry genius." She beamed at herself and walked off to the kitchen.

"That's not such a bad idea," Blossom mumbled thoughtfully. "Yeah, yeah, I already have a basic routine down that I wanted to perform anyway. I'd just have to add a few things here and there, and center it around a piece of music. And, hmmm, I guess I could add in a part for you," she turned to Brick at her last sentence.

"Can we just get this done with?" Brick grumbled.

"Come," she ordered as she led him to their sitting room with the grand piano. "Sit."

Brick slumped down in front of the piano and waited expectantly. Blossom walked to the nearest bookshelf and floated to the top shelf. She pulled out a very thin music book and tossed it to Brick. "OneRepublic. Apologize?" Brick asked, looking at the front cover.

"Yes," she replied. "It's the piano music for the song. Have you ever listened to it?"

"Yeah, it's a good song."

"It is. And you're going to play and sing it, and I'm going to dance to it," she declared. "You're good at the piano, so this should be really easy for you."

"It will be, but…" Brick paused and tossed the book back at her. "I'll pass on the sheet music. Lemme listen to the actual song." Blossom scoffed and shook her head, but returned with an iPod and speakers. She played the song and began to dance.

She danced around the room, stopping now and then to add another twirl here or another leap there, but always keeping up with the music. It was obvious her dance was far from the finished thing, but even at such an early stage, it was amazing. _She _was amazing. It pained Brick to think the words, but the stuck up bitch was good at dancing.

The song ended and started again, and this time Brick turned to the piano and began to play along with it. He stumbled a few times, but as it was only his second time listening to the song in a very long time, he forgave himself. Right on cue, he began to sing along too. While Brick focused on the piano, Blossom focused on her dance, and they kept at this routine as the song played again and again.

Finally, Brick walked over to the speakers and turned them off. "I want to add few things to your dance," Brick said. "Keep it interesting, you know?" Blossom nodded but otherwise remained silent. "After the first chorus, dance over to me and really quick I'll lift you up onto the piano and you can dance on it for a while."

"Wait, what?" Blossom asked.

"C'mere," Brick sat down and gestured for her to stand next to him. "Hold on," he ordered and began to play the first chorus. Right when it had ended, Brick took one hand off. He grabbed Blossom's hand and commanded, "Float," as he guided her hand upward. Finally understanding what he meant, Blossom smoothly glided to the top of the piano and began to improvise a dance. Nodding his approval, Brick returned both hands to the piano and continued to play.

When the song finished, Blossom admitted, "I like it."

"Of course you do," Brick replied smugly.

"I'm surprised you can do more than destroy cities."

"I'm surprised you can still dance with a stick up– You know what? No, let's not start this again," Brick said.

Blossom sighed and nodded, "Alright. I'll just pretend you're actually a nice person who didn't go tossing around airplanes with innocent people in them.

"And I'll just pretend you're actually a friendly, fun person with no stick up her ass."

"Fine."

"Very fine." A silence, then, "Oh yeah, about my dance part, does it mean I have to stop playing?"

The angry glare faded from her eyes and she replied, "It would, wouldn't it? What if we keep it to the very end, and you keep singing?"

"Yeah that'll work," Brick shrugged.

"We should work on that right now," Blossom suggested. "So on the second to last line, stop playing and dance over to me. Don't walk, okay? Dance. Glide."

"Uh..right."

"And you'll have to keep singing while you move. You _can_ keep your voice smooth right?"

"Of course," Brick replied grumpily, slightly insulted.

"I'm just asking," Blossom grinned, "I'm sure you can. Now, _glide_ over and I'll meet you here right at the center… Good, and put your hand here…and here." She guided one hand to her waist and another into her hands. "Now twirl- twirl me– No, no, no, we're completely shifting to the left; we have to remain center stage."

"Alright, alright," Brick mumbled, rolling his eyes at her instructions.

"Just pay attention," Blossom ordered, her voice once again strict. "And twirl."

"That's so boring," Brick suddenly objected as he let go of her. "You wanna win this? We need to do something interesting. Remember, our audience is a group of teenage kids. They don't wanna see a slow waltz with basic twirls– they wanna see something more…exciting- different."

"Well then," Blossom pursed her lips, "what did you have in mind?"

"This." Brick ducked behind Blossom and lifted her up by her waist, ignoring her objections. "Just pay attention," he mocked her. "As I leave the piano– still singing– you leap and I'll catch you and lift you like this. Now be more natural- don't look so stiff."

She took his advice and gently arched her body, tilted her head, and threw her arms out. On a whim, she slowly curved one leg behind Brick's back.

"Much better," Brick praised. "Okay, now keep that, and just trust me on this." With those words, Brick began to float upward as he slowly twirled around. "And when the song ends, we'll be poised gracefully in midair. How often does the average Townsville teen get to see that?" Brick asked.

"It's good," Blossom admitted. "You're good…for a beginner."

"Thanks," Brick replied sarcastically, "but you're good at dancing too."

Blossom eyed him warily, but upon realizing he was genuine, thanked him. She then said, "Okay, let's run that through." After they'd smoothed that routine out, the two did a few run-throughs of the entire song. After the fourth time, Blossom nodded satisfactorily and said, "I think we're good for today. You know, we've made surprisingly good progress."

"Not bad for two people who tried to kill each other as kids, huh?"

Blossom grinned wryly, "Not bad." After a moment's silence, Blossom spoke, "But this doesn't I condone anything you've done, or will do."

"Of course," Brick rolled his eyes, something he'd done a lot of today. "Still got a stick up your ass, then?" he asked bitterly before exiting the room.

"Brick! I heard you've been rehearsing?" a voice sweeter than honey greeted him.

"Hey Bubbles. Sure have," Brick grinned.

"Well, don't expect us to go easy on you," she teased.

"I don't," he assured. Upon noticing the other guest, he nodded, "Hey Mitch."

"Hey Brick," Mitch nodded back.

"Buttercup," said Bubbles, "did you know that Mitch is actually a very good singer?"

"Uh, yes, I did," her sister replied flatly. "We _are_ dating, you know."

"But Mitch, you've been hiding such a great talent," Bubbles remarked. "Why not try out for chorus, or musical theater?" she asked, which earned her a snort from both Buttercup and Mitch.

"I'm good, thanks," Mitch grinned, and Bubbles gave a little "Hmph!" Mitch ignored her and continued, "Well I gotta go, but I'll see you guys later at the beach today?"

"You bet," Buttercup replied.

"Bye, babe," Mitch waved, grabbed his motorcycle helmet, and let himself out the front door.

Blossom walked in just as they heard the revving of a motorcycle and remarked, "Oh yeah, that beach party thing's today."

"Oh shit. I forgot about that. But I told Butch and Boomer I'd take 'em there," Brick grumbled.

"Yay! You're going then?" Bubbles beamed.

Before he could reply, Buttercup interrupted, "Hey Bloss, since you're not going, mind getting some more cereal? We're almost out."

"I'm going," Blossom said simply. To the weird looks her sisters were giving her, she asked, "What?"

"Nothing," Buttercup shrugged, "it's just that a couple days ago you were ranting about Princess's party and how you don't like her and how you didn't want to go to her party, and then you were grumbling about how you didn't want to go to the one today and how all these parties were so annoying. Then Bubbles called you a stick in the mud, and then you got mad, and then–"

"Okay, okay," Blossom interrupted. "I get the point. But so what? I've changed my mind, that's all. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll be in the training room. See you later, Brick."

An awkward silence hung in the air, which Brick interrupted with "So I'll be leaving now…"

"Oh yeah, see ya," Buttercup waved.

"Bye!" Bubbles said as she saw him to the door.

"See you tonight."

–––

Brick arrived home with his thoughts in a muddled mess and walked through the door to find his brothers standing crossly in the hallway, arms folded, one eyebrow raised. Like an angry mother waiting to hear her tardy kid's excuse, Brick observed.

"Uh," Brick began.

"Don't 'uh' us, young man," interrupted Boomer.

"Where've you been?" Butch demanded.

"Guys, I told you, studying."

Boomer chuckled flatly, "Studying."

"With who? Lloyd, maybe?" Butch suggested off-handedly.

"Yeah, Lloyd." Brick didn't like where this was going.

"Funny thing. Lloyd called while you were gone," Boomer informed him. Now Brick _really_ didn't like where this was going.

"He wanted to know if you were going to the beach today," Butch added.

"Which is funny, you know, that he'd call, since–" Boomer began.

"He should've been right next to you!" Butch declared.

"Hey! I wanted to say that part!" Boomer objected.

"Shut up!" Butch hissed. "You're ruining the moment."

"So that begs the question," Boomer narrowed his eyes, "where were you really?"

"I–" Brick began, half-trying to think of a good excuse and half-wanting to chuckle at and/or punch his idiotic brothers.

"Perhaps," Butch interrupted, "you were with a girl?"

"How'd you–?" Brick asked.

"Easy. Your shirt has some long red hairs on it," Butch explained, picking one strand off his shirt to show them before he threw it in the trash.

"Not bad," Brick admitted, genuinely impressed.

"I've learned a lot from school, man," Butch said proudly.

"Blossom!" Boomer suddenly burst out. "You were with her! She's the only girl around here with red hair that long."

"Brickie? Are you having a secret affair?" Butch narrowed his eyes.

"Yeah, is there something you'd like to tell us?" Boomer joined in.

"Okay, guys, this getting seriously creepy. I'm getting crazy-jealous-girlfriend vibes from you two, which is just…wrong on too many levels."

"Oh alright," Boomer sighed, dropping the act. "But really? Blossom? I thought she hated our guts."

"Yeah, but there's this Mr. and Miss Townsville thing at school and we got partnered up, so now we're doing this dance, and we had to practice," Brick admitted.

"Dance?" Boomer repeated innocently.

"With Blossom?" Butch asked, suddenly grinning.

"Mr. Townsville?" Boomer echoed again.

"Our own little Brickie?" Butch was now positively beaming, but in a sly way, Brick noted. "Now, when do you suppose this little performance would be held? Hmm? Just curious."

"When you're far away at school," Brick replied, smiling his best fake smile.

"But I won't be far away," said Boomer.

"Film it, will ya Boomer?" Butch requested.

"Definitely."

"You know what I'm thinking?"

"Blackmail material," the blond and black-haired brothers grinned at each other.

"Oh, fuck no," Brick snarled upon hearing the words before cracking his knuckles menacingly.

Loud punching sounds could then be heard coming from the house.


	15. Chapter 15

It was a wonderful day for the beach– the sky was a clear, piercing blue; the sun was still (somewhat) high in the sky; cool breeze whipped through the shore; and the soft ocean waves lapped gently onto the sand. Brick admired the general beach atmosphere, as he ran after his brothers toward the rest of their friends. Many people had already arrived, but the trio found a nice spot to set down their bags and set up three chairs.

"Are we gonna eat yet?" Boomer asked.

"You just got here, and it's only four," Brick replied.

"Your point?" Boomer raised an eyebrow, then left in search of a bag of chips.

"So, what now?" Brick asked, but his question was answered by someone calling his name. He turned and spotted Bubbles running up to him, followed by Buttercup and Blossom. The first girl was wearing a small white T-shirt, under which she seemed to be sporting a very nice blue bikini, as Brick quickly noted. Buttercup seemed to be wearing something of similar nature but with board shorts, although Brick couldn't really imagine her wearing a bikini. Meanwhile the third sister was wearing a sundress on top of a swimsuit, and Brick _really_ couldn't imagine her wearing a bikini, not that he really wanted to anyway.

They all greeted each other, after which Bubbles remarked, "It's such a nice day for the beach, huh? You know, we should all go up to those rocks later." She pointed at a twenty-foot tall rock formation, which many kids were already climbing. "You can get a great view of the sunset," she explained.

However, she was interrupted by Buttercup's raising voice, "Oh yeah? Well then, I bet…I can beat you at beach volleyball!"

Butch, for whom the challenge was intended, replied, "You're on! Why don't make this a little tournament? Winning team gets all-you-can-eat dibs on the food."

"Isn't this all-you-can-eat anyway? I mean, no one's gonna stop you from eating ten hot dogs."

"Shut up! You know what I mean! Like all-you-can-eat with no one complaining or saying anything or… whatever."

"You're on then," Buttercup responded, grinning. "Hey, Mitch, c'mere!"

"What?" her boyfriend asked, jogging over.

"You and me are gonna beat this ass–" she pointed at Butch "at volleyball. A tournament," she explained.

"Okay," Mitch shrugged, always willing to humor his girlfriend when sports were involved. Soon word spread that a beach volleyball tournament was going to take place, with the promise of all the food you could eat as the prize. ("But we brought most of this food!" Lloyd and Floyd complained.) The participating party-goers formed themselves into teams of two, and it was established that each game would be played to 15, as 21 would take too long.

"I'll team up with Blossom," Brick declared, to everyone's surprise. Now that he and Blossom weren't screaming their heads off at the sight of each other, this was his chance to become her friend. Then everything would be okay, and he could ask Bubbles out…but, of course, first things first. He turned expectantly to Blossom, who was also surprised but accepted nonetheless.

"Then I wanna go with Bubbles," Boomer chimed. She accepted, of course, but Brick could hear poorly disguised disappointment mixed in with her words. If only she knew that he was trying to become friends with a stuck-up bi– scratch that– her sister just for her.

"Wait, but who am I supposed to go with?" Butch asked, seeing that everyone he knew already had a partner.

"No partner, no game, immediate disqualification," Buttercup smirked.

"Better make a friend, and fast," Boomer chuckled, as Butch sped off to threaten some poor soul to be his partner.

The tournament then started, and while on the sidelines, Brick tried to make small talk, "So…Blossom, you any good at volleyball?"

"I'm alright. I've played a few times."

"Oh."

The awkward silence was interrupted by the cheers from the crowd, as Buttercup and Mitch had, almost literally, destroyed their opponents. Butch was dragging his partner, a still somewhat-frightened boy from the school's volleyball, up to the court. The tension was building as Buttercup glared daggers at Butch.

"So…Blossom, you like to dance, huh?"

"Yes, I do," she replied curtly.

"Uh…how long've you been dancing?" Butch had spiked the ball down, and Buttercup had missed it, earning him a point. The two, as everyone discovered right away, were very competent athletes, playing at or above the Olympic level.

"Since I was very young actually. But I didn't start my dances lessons until I was about six."

"Wow, okay." Buttercup had just realized Butch's partner was his weak spot, and had begun aiming all her spikes at his side. 4-1, her favor.

"What about you?" Blossom asked. "How long have you been playing the piano?"

"I've never had formal lessons," Brick answered, happy that he finally wasn't the one asking all the questions now. "I've just always played by ear. I can read notes, but I'd rather not."

"I've always thought it was amazing that some people can just listen and play," Blossom admitted. 6-2, Buttercup's favor. Butch was now yelling at his partner, while Buttercup grinned from the other side.

"Eh, it's nothing really. It's just always been like that."

"What about singing? I can't imagine you in choir or anything." 7-5, Buttercup's favor. Butch had started covering for his partner. He was being a ball-hog, but the boy seemed rather relieved.

"Boomer actually used to play the guitar, so he always wanted me to sing along with it. Wouldn't stop annoying me until I said yes. But then he decided he liked drums better, so I just sing in the shower, I guess," Brick grinned.

Blossom chuckled. 10-10. Buttercup was now getting a little edgy. Blossom continued, "So, have you ever thought about really learning to dance?"

"What?"

"You're actually really good at it you know, and with some training and practice, you could be dancing at a professional level. Earlier… I just didn't want to admit that."

"Really?"

"Don't make me say it again."

"Thanks." 12-11, Butch's favor. Butch was doing a little taunting dance, as Buttercup vehemently threatened him. Mitch just stood by, as if this wasn't an uncommon occurrence.

"You know, I'll admit that you _might_ have straightened yourself out a bit," Blossom muttered.

"Thank you. Finally," Brick said. "So why the sudden admission?"

Blossom cleared her throat, and answered sheepishly, "I went through the police records before coming here and reviewed everything from when you first came here."

"And?" Brick asked smugly. 13-12, Buttercup's favor again. There seemed to be no one on the court except Buttercup and Butch– they were completely hogging the ball. Mitch and the other boy were all but forgotten, not that either seemed to really mind.

"And there were no records of any crime or suspicious activity committed by you," Blossom admitted. "Although there was a car reported stolen, but it seems the money was paid later," she mused.

"Well, basically, I haven't done anything," Brick said, ignoring her last statement. "I'm glad you're satisfied." They fell silent again as they watched the match. 14-14. Everyone was fervently cheering for one team or the other.

"Say, why did you want to team up with me?" Blossom suddenly asked.

"I– what?"

"Don't give me that. Yesterday, we'd have been at each other's throats. Today morning, we only just started speaking with inside voices. So why?" 15-14, Buttercup's favor.

"I… I just thought we could be friends."

"Friends? Are you sure you weren't thinking anything beyond that?" Blossom leaned in and whispered. What did she mean by that? And more importantly, why was she leaning in? Brick's thoughts were racing, as he tried to find an answer, but the weirdness of the situation kept distracting him.

But his thoughts were interrupted by a loud cheer. 16-14, Buttercup had won. Butch hurled the ball at her, but she nimbly dodged as she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Brick, Blossom, you're up n…" Lloyd began but faded out as he found Blossom leaning toward Brick, with their faces only a couple inches from each other. The rest of the crowd followed Lloyd's gaze and a hushed silence fell over them. Suddenly Lloyd coughed, and excited whispers broke out. "You're um, up next," Lloyd continued, "against um, Boomer and Bubbles."

Oh shit. Bubbles. Brick frantically looked around for her, only to find her angrily making her way to the court, where she took her place next to Boomer. The moment Brick and Blossom arrived, Bubbles served the ball so quickly that neither of her opponents had time to respond.

"1-0, Bubbles," Lloyd called. The game continued, as Bubbles continuously spiked with more force than Brick thought possible, winning her a long streak of points. A few times, the ball nearly hit Brick himself– it almost seemed as if she was aiming for him. "7-2, Bubbles and Boomer."

"Psst, Bubbles! I'm sorry," Brick whispered when he finally found himself standing close enough to her.

"For what?" she asked, confused. "I should be the one apologizing, for almost hitting you. Sometimes I can't control where I aim." She smiled apologetically and walked away. Damn, Brick thought, she's a good actress.

Normally, Brick and Blossom would have been able to defeat anyone at volleyball, as Chemical X already increased their athleticism to an unimaginable level. However, since they were up against two other people with Chemical X and Brick was very distracted throughout the whole match, they lost 7-15. Five points of those seven had been made by Blossom.

"Brick," Buttercup called, pulling him to the side while a team walked up to replace him.

"What?" Brick demanded, peeved.

"What the hell are you trying to pull?"

"Pull? What?"

"C'mon, don't act stupid," Buttercup growled.

"Look, I don't know what the fuck you're talking about," Brick replied, his tone become increasingly irritated.

"You and Bubbles were flirting everywhere, and then suddenly you're almost kissing my other sister?"

"Hey, _she _was the one who leaned toward _me_, okay? I don't know what the hell she was doing!" Brick insisted.

"If one of my sisters ends up crying, I will throw you in that fire and toss your burnt corpse into the ocean for the sharks," she snarled, jabbing a finger _very_ forcefully at his chest.

"Hey Buttercup, you and Mitch are up again," Lloyd called, interrupting their little 'chat.' It was the last match, held between the teams of Buttercup and Mitch and of Boomer and Bubbles. Brick barely paid any attention to the actual game– he just kept his eyes on Bubbles, who was obviously putting minimal effort into the game. Had Brick not been so focused on her, however, he would have noticed the occasional glances Blossom threw at him.

The game ended with an overjoyed Buttercup doing a little dance in the air, and just in time for dinner. Lloyd started up a bonfire, and handed Buttercup and Mitch each a pack of eight sausages and buns. Buttercup laughed, shook her head, and held out a hand expectantly. Lloyd grudgingly gave her two bags of chips, six cans of soda, a large bar of chocolate, a pack of graham crackers, and a bag of marshmallows. Satisfied, she and Mitch walked over to the fire and began preparing their feast.

Brick slumped over to the fire, took a kid's cooked hot dog (despite his objections) and flew to the very top of the rock formation to eat. He just wanted to be alone. How had this gone so wrong? It wasn't even his fault! It wasn't like Brick was trying to kiss Blossom! Seriously. The girl either had to hate his guts or be friendlier than necessary. And how was he supposed to tell her that he was only being nice to her because he wanted to date her sister?

As he ate, there was a tap on his shoulder. Blossom descended and sat down next to him. "Hey," she said.

"Hey," Brick replied, although he really wasn't in the mood to talk to anyone.

"Sorry about that."

"It's okay."

"I know you didn't really want anyone to see us."

"Uh…what?" Was that what she was apologizing for?

"So since it's just us now…" she whispered, and before Brick realized what had happened, she had kissed him. Firmly.

He instantly pushed her away and explained, "Look. This– it's not– we're not–" but he stopped when he saw a streak of blue color on the side of his eye. "Oh shit," Brick whispered, about to go after the streak, but Blossom held him back.

"Wait," she commanded.

"I need to go after her. I need to explain," Brick said urgently.

"And I need to apologize again," she declared, still firmly holding him back.

"I don't really care about your apology right now."

"I know you like her. And I know she likes you."

Brick paused, taking in what Blossom just said. "Then why the fuck would you kiss me? Don't you have any fucking respect for your sister? 'Cause she actually has a heart and cares about you."

"I know! I didn't mean to hurt _her._"

"Maybe you shoulda fucking thought about that first!"

"Listen. Bubbles has always been that type that everyone likes and all the guys like her and I've just…you know. I mean people like me, but…you were suddenly so nice and we were getting along, so I thought– I thought it'd be okay if just once–"

"Oh" was the only thing Brick could say, so Blossom continued, "I'm really sorry I did…what I did."

Brick looked at the sighing girl in front of him, and he felt something he so rarely did– pity.

"It's…okay. Really," Brick said, giving her an awkward pat on the back before flying off. He asked around for Bubbles, only to find in the time that he was talking to Blossom, she had already left.

"Hey Boomer," Brick called, "I'm going home."

"Already man? Here, have a s'more," Boomer insisted, holding one out for Brick.

"Pass."

"What's that? You want s'more s'mores?" Boomer grinned, grabbing another one.

"Not in the mood," Brick emphasized every word.

"C'mon, lighten up," Boomer laughed, grabbing a hot dog and trying to stuff it into Brick mouth. Seriously peeved, Brick grabbed the hot dog and s'mores and crammed them into Boomer's mouth.

"I _said_ I'm not in the mood. I'm going home," and with that Brick flew off in a streak of red light.

* * *

><p><strong>I've always figured that as a teen or adult, Blossom would be the type that works so hard at school, dance, whatever she does, that she doesn't really make many friends or interact with people at all. So that's why I kinda made her move really fast with Brick. And that Bubbles is a complete people's person, and even Buttercup has a boyfriend (no offense to her, but it's normally Buttercup who's very boy-opposed). And lastly, she (in my mind) has no experience with love and stuff like that. <strong>

**Wow that sounded cheesy. **

**This idea actually popped up as I was writing. But I kinda like it (although admittedly it is very cliché and cheesy, but I warned about the cheese) so I went with it. **


	16. Chapter 16

"Stop moping! Spring break's almost over," Boomer complained, shoving a pillow into Brick's face. When Brick failed to respond, Boomer began hitting him. "I'm hitting you! Doesn't this make you angry? Don't you wanna punch me? Oh hey! What about your job?"

Brick mumbled something about having asked for the whole week off, so Boomer continued bothering his brother, "C'mon do something! Don't just sit there!"

"Give it up, Boomer. The guy's probably in a coma," Butch yelled, going through the fridge. "I still don't understand why he's so depressed."

"Weren't you there at the beach yourself? Why're you asking me?"

"You think I pay attention to that stuff? All I know is that Buttercup did not actually beat me. I hadn't eaten enough and I wasn't playing at my best, okay?"

"Dude, get over it. So she beat you."

"She did not beat me!" Butch howled, chucking a jar of mayonnaise at Boomer, who easily dodged.

"You're cleaning that up," Boomer shook his head.

"Whatever. So what happened?"

"Well Brick has a little crush on Bubbles–"

"The Powerpuff? Oh God, that's just weird."

"Eh, I'm not gonna judge. Well, Kelly told me–"

"Who the fuck is Kelly?"

"A girl from the party. I got her number," Boomer grinned, pointing to a piece of paper littered with phone numbers. "Although I'm not actually sure which one's hers…"

"Get on with it," Butch growled.

"So apparently Brick was kissing her _sister_–"

"What the fuck is wrong with our brother? I use to respect him for being the tough leader, you know?"

"Aww, Butch, you respected him?" Boomer cooed. "Hey Brick, Butch respects you, isn't that cute?" Boomer petted Brick's head, just narrowly dodging a jar of salsa.

"But now he's just like _you_."

"Hey! Despite your tone of voice, I will take that as a compliment," Boomer said haughtily. "Anyway, Bubbles got mad, flew home. Then Brick went to their place a few days ago and tried to apologize and Bubbles refused to talk to him and Buttercup beat him up–"

"She didn't beat me up," Brick interjected.

"Brick, it's okay to admit she beat you up. I understand– your wounded heart has weakened you," Boomer said sympathetically.

"Boomer, I will beat the living crap out of you. She said, 'I would throw you in a fire and toss you to the sharks, but I won't, because unfortunately there's no fire. And Blossom doesn't want me arrested.'"

"Then what happened?"

"I tried to talk to Bubbles, but she completely refused. Then Blossom told me that she'd try to explain everything to Bubbles, and that she was sorry."

"Guys, this is pathetic," Butch mumbled. "We're the fucking Rowdyruff Boys, and Brick is in a coma-like state, and Boomer is gossiping like an old lady."

"Hey!" Boomer objected.

"I have an idea that might cheer you both up," Butch offered.

–––

Ten minutes later, the three boys were standing inside Mojo's old observatory tower. Having been unused for years, everything inside had gathered a thin layer of dust, and cobwebs filled every nook and cranny. Caution tape and danger signs had been posted around the edge of the tower and the general area was deserted.

"Wow, I haven't been in here for _years_," Boomer muttered, wiping the dust off of a few gadgets littered around the room. "I can't believe Mojo just left all his stuff here."

"I know, right? A bunch of powerful lasers and shit, and no one uses them," Butch grinned, firing one randomly. However, the old and unused laser gun broke down and exploded on him, the force slamming him against the wall.

"That's probably why," Boomer chuckled.

"So why are here?" Brick asked, slumping down against a wall.

"Because you're like that! That's why," Butch rubbed his forehead in frustration. "Remember that once a couple years after we left, I blew up that building and Him got really mad then I got really mad and I just left for a few days?"

"Oh yeah! Then when you came back, he beat the crap out of you!," Boomer recalled.

"Shut up, Boomer," Butch mumbled.

"Is this where you went?" Boomer asked.

"Yeah. Actually I'd planned on blowing up a building in Townsville, but then I stopped by here, 'cause I remembered Mojo had a great firing range/training room thing in one of the middle floors of the tower. So I spent a few days here. It's great– relieves tension.

"And that is exactly what our brother here needs," Butch led his two brothers down to the firing range.

"Damn! This is nice. Why didn't you show us this a couple days ago?" Boomer asked, looking around. They had entered a very spacious white-walled room, stocked with various normal guns _and_ laser guns. Target boards were stuck in various places from the ground, all the way up to the far wall.

"I just remembered. Oh, and it gets better," Butch smirked. "I just hope it still works." He walked to a panel of buttons, switches, and levers, and pressed and flipped a few switches. The targets began moving and slowly increased speed until they were zooming around the room. Butch fired five times, but missed one target. The four destroyed targets were immediately replaced.

"I wanna try!" Boomer exclaimed, grabbing a gun. He fired ten shots, and made them all. "Beat that."

"Out of my way," Brick growled, snatching a gun for himself. He clicked the trigger exactly twenty times with such speed that all twenty targets were destroyed before any managed to be replaced. "Feels good."

"That's my brother!" Butch exclaimed. He messed with the control panel a bit, and more targets popped up and each increased its speed. Soon all three brothers were firing away, and the sound of guns and lasers resounded in the room. After a while, they stopped, and a machine's voice called out, "Fired: 973 times. Hit: 954 targets. Accuracy: 98%."

"Seriously? 98%? That's pathetic," Brick scoffed.

"I blame that on Butch. His aim is terrible," Boomer pointed at his green-eyed brother.

"Hey!" Butch objected. "I'm not that bad! You missed a few too."

"Not as many as you, though."

"Well, I'm better at a lot of stuff than you, so suck on that."

"Whatever helps you sleep at night," Boomer grinned as Butch flipped him off.

"Okay, shut up. Lemme show you something cool. Step inside," Butch ordered, as he messed with a few more buttons. His brothers obediently stepped inside the firing range, just as Butch turned on the training room function. Laser guns pushed out from the walls, spikes randomly erupted from the ground and moved up and down. "Nice. It still all works."

"Wait, Mojo set this stuff up? I can't imagine Mojo ever using this stuff," Boomer remarked.

"I know. I got him to make it in the short time we worked with him," Butch explained, stepping inside. "I just never got the time to tell you guys, and then I forgot about it." He handed his brothers two laser guns. "Use these. It'll be like a funner version of laser tag. Okay, let's do this."

At his words, the targets began moving again and the lasers began firing at the trio.

"So the point of this uh, activity," Butch called, dodging a laser, "is to shoot as many targets as possible while avoiding the lasers and spikes. And uh, don't destroy the lasers 'cause I can't replace those. And it's not fun without them. Oh yeah, they also have heat sensors."

"I cannot believe," Boomer started, pausing to fire his gun at a target, "you didn't tell us about this."

Brick rolled forward to dodge a laser then shoot a target before commenting, "I'm amazed Butch. This is great."

"Wow, even Brick's impress–" Butch said, creating a green shield to field off a laser, "-ed. Hey, can I release the robots?"

"Robots?" Boomer asked. "Why didn't you release them in the first place?"

"I forgot about them," Butch shrugged, walking over to the control panel again.

"What the _hell_ is wrong with your memory, Butch?" Boomer asked after his brother.

After pausing to fire his gun at Boomer, Butch pressed a few buttons on the panel, and suddenly small robots built in the shape of monkeys dropped from the ceiling and began chasing after the boys and firing lasers from their eyes. "Right, so destroy the robots. They'll get replaced. You know the drill."

"Fuck these guns!" Brick suddenly exclaimed, punching a robot and ripping out its wiring.

"What's up with you?"

"Eh, anger relief," he replied, kicking another robot across its face toward the wall.

"You know, they say you shouldn't bottle up your feelings," Boomer called, creating a bat made of lightning and slamming it against a monkey-bot. "I mean, all this fighting helps, but you should talk about it."

"Are you really going to fucking hold a therapy session? Especially here? And now?" Butch growled.

"You know at Princess's party… Bubbles and I kissed and I thought everything was going great," Brick explained, ignoring Butch.

"And then you went and made out with her sister the next day," Butch stated flatly.

"That's pretty bad, bro," Boomer shook his head. "I mean, you guys hadn't even gone on a date. You'd just admitted that you liked each other? Then you went and kissed her sister? Cheating's not the way to start a relationship."

"Hey! She kissed me! I will swear to my fucking grave I didn't know she'd fucking do that," Brick scowled.

"You know, that not technically cheating," Butch remarked.

"Cheating or not, that's just not the way to start a relationship."

"Coming from the guy who's calling up a new girl every week?"

"Hey!" Boomer interjected, sending a monkey hurtling toward Butch, who in turn, fired his gun at Boomer. "That may be true, but I make sure to properly break up with them."

"And that makes it so much better," Butch scoffed, earning him a hit right to the head.

"Just continue, Brick."

"Bubbles said that we couldn't actually get together, since Blossom hated me so much. So I tried to become friends with her."

"So that's why you wanted to team up with her for volleyball," Boomer exclaimed, morphing his lightning bat into two boxing gloves.

"Exactly. But then she thought I was hitting on her, and now everything's fucked up," Brick growled, beaming several monkeys at once.

"Are you two grannies done discussing your feelings?" Butch interrupted.

"Just because you can't express _your_ feelings, Butch, doesn't mean you gotta hate on us," Boomer morphed his gloves into a tennis racket and sent a few monkeys at Butch's head.

"Why do you even like her anyway?" Butch asked.

"I just– she just trusted me so easily. No one's ever done that– they always think I'm about to beat the crap out of them, although sometimes I am, but that's not the point. And she's always so happy and bubbly–"

"–hence the name," interjected Boomer.

"And she was willing to be my friend, and not because she was scared of me or she wanted a favor, but 'cause she's just such a sweet person. And my God, have you heard her sing?"

"Awww, Brickie's in love!" Boomer yelled, almost getting hit by a monkey in his excitement.

"Fuck. Now I have two saps for brothers," Butch sighed.

"You'll just end up old, wrinkled, and alone," Boomer retorted.

"Why don't you just apologize to her so we can all get on with our lives?" Butch suggested. "Something flashy…big…grand. I mean, girls like that stuff right?"

"Don't listen to the idiot," Boomer insisted. "It's gotta be sincere."

"Thanks," Brick said, genuinely touched by their advice. "I'll figure something out." In a sudden flash, he zipped around the room and knocked out all the monkeys, targets, and lasers.

"Dammit! I told you not to destroy the lasers!" Butch whined.

–––

"I've got an idea!" Brick suddenly jumped up from his seat. He flinched a little from his soreness– the crazy monkey-robo-laser-target-filled training room exercise they'd done earlier had actually been a _very_ good workout.

"Okay," Boomer said slowly, spaghetti still hanging from his mouth.

"To apologize to Bubbles, I mean," Brick elaborated.

"Look out Townsville! Brick's got a plan," Boomer yelled to the ceiling.

"You know, normally, it'd be a plan to blow something up. Beat the crap out of someone. That fun stuff," Butch muttered.

"Shut up, Butch. You know you wanna help," Boomer said, and Butch mumbled something incoherent that vaguely sounded like a 'so what if I do?'

"We'd have to bend a few rules," Brick grinned.

"Bending rules is what we do, although I prefer plain breaking 'em," Butch smirked.

"You'd have to be here on Monday, though."

"Oh, that's easy. I've threatened my doctor for notes a lotta times," Boomer said nonchalantly.

"Damn, I don't think I can manage that one, Brick. They don't really take excuses at my place," Butch explained.

"That's okay, I'll film everything for you," Boomer assured.

"I just gotta get a couple people to agree on a few things, and it'll be all set," Brick declared. Brick thought back to what his brothers had said earlier. Bubbles liked that type of big display thing, maybe not monumentally huge, but somewhat grand; she also needed something from the heart, something sincere, like she always was.

This plan was going to be perfect.

* * *

><p><strong>I felt like this fic really needed a RRB only chapter and this seemed like the perfect place to put it. I like the boys' relationship– they mock and beat each other up all the time, but they actually care for one another very much :3<strong>


	17. Chapter 17: The End

Princess finished her mediocre gymnastic routine to a smattering of applause, most of which came from her own teammates. She stalked off the stage, furious that her act hadn't received more applause, and muttered something about calling her daddy.

But Brick couldn't have cared less about her problems– he had his own to worry about. "So you'll help?" Brick asked Buttercup backstage.

"Yeah. I've decided to hold off on the beating and see how this goes," she answered.

"Thanks. I think," he muttered. He turned from Buttercup to Boomer, whose presence (amazingly) still had not been questioned. "Boomer is everything good? You talked to Mitch?"

"He says it's cool. Do what ya gotta do," Boomer replied. "And yes, before you ask, I got everything you asked. Okay, bro, now put these on." Boomer handed him a red satin bowtie and a fedora.

"A fedora, really?" Brick asked, putting them both on nonetheless.

"For effect, you know? Toss it into the audience, listen to the cheers, then question me," Boomer grinned.

"Is Mitch back yet? I can't believe he forgot his outfit at home!" Brick heard Bubbles exclaim exasperatedly behind him. He turned around to get a good look at her– and boy did she look great. A little frustrated that her partner hadn't arrived, perhaps, but still great. Her baby blue silk dress accented her piercing blue eyes, the floral décor along the side brought out her sweet, innocent look, and the knee-length hem revealed her long, slim legs. Her golden hair flowed loosely around her shoulders, and a few strands gently caressed her face.

Brick opened his mouth, about to admire her appearance, but caught himself and turned away.

Buttercup answered Bubbles's question, "He said he'd be here soon, but if he's not here when you guys start, you should get on stage first and he'll join you."

"He– what? Oh my God," Bubbles shook her head, her hair swaying the motion of her head. She sighed, muttered something under her breath, and walked away.

"You ready to do this?" Boomer asked quietly.

"I've practiced all weekend, I've prepared everything– I'm gonna get her back," Brick replied confidently.

"Good," Boomer grinned. "I'll be in the front row filming, so smile at the camera." Boomer left and snuck back into the audience.

Brick could hear Bubbles ask around one last time for Mitch before she went onstage. The music began, and everyone wished Brick good luck. It suddenly dawned on him that for the first time in his life, he was just the tiniest bit nervous. But he took a deep breath, and right on cue sang into his headset microphone, "_Now I've had the time of my life. No, I've never felt like this before_…"

As he continued singing, Brick slowly made his way onstage amid the many gasps of the audience, who instantly broke into an excited whisper at his unexpected appearance. Brick let his eyes fall on the beautiful girl standing across the stage, who looked the most surprised of all, and sang, almost pleadingly, "_And I owe it all to you..._"

She recovered from her shock, but her voice was flat as she sang, "'_Cause I've had the time of my life, and I owe it all to you.._." Brick continued from where she left off and slowly walked toward her. Now they were singing together, their voices harmonizing, although Bubbles was still holding back.

"_So we take each other's hand 'cause we seem to understand the urgency…_" they sang, and Brick slid his hands into Bubbles's. He smiled encouragingly at her, and finally, she gave him a small grin in return.

"_You're_ _the one thing…_" she sang.

"_I can't get enough of…" _Brick continued.

"_So I'll tell you something…_"

"_This could be love_!" their voices joined together, crescendoing until they were belting. As they continued to duet, Brick twirled her out and back into his arms, so that his chest was pressed against her back. Brick kept his arms wrapped around her as they belted, "_'Cause I've had the time of my life, and I've searched through every open door. Till I found the truth, and I owe it all to you…_" He spun her out again as the chorus ended, but she twirled back around to face him.

She slowly drew closer, and whispered into his neck, "_With my body and soul, I want you more than you'll ever know..._"

Brick kissed her gently on the cheek, and sang softly, "_So we'll just let it go; don't be afraid to lose control_…"

"_Yes I know what's on your mind, when you say 'Stay with me tonight!'" _she let her voice grow louder before belting the last part. Brick smiled, and suddenly grabbed his fedora and flung it into the crowd. Girlish squeals of excitement sprung from the crowd as hands soared into the air for the fedora. Brick made a mental note to thank Boomer.

As they were about to reach another chorus, Brick had an idea and mouthed "trust me" to Bubbles, who nodded readily. The chorus arrived, and as they sang, Brick lifted Bubbles by her hips high into the air above his head. She followed his cue, spread her arms, and kept her body straight, all the while managing to sing without a single waver in her voice.

Just as the chorus was ending, Brick gently brought her down, and she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a tight hug. The music slowed, and he sang softly, "_Now I've had the time of my life. No I've never felt this way before_…"

"_Never felt this way_…" her words overlapped his.

"_Yes I swear, it's the truth, and I owe it all to you_…" Brick slowly raised his voice and belted out his last words. As they led into the last chorus, Brick took Bubbles's hands, and began to float upward. Grinning, she followed him, and soon the two were dancing and belting five feet above the ground. As they danced, bubbles suddenly flooded the stage, giving off a myriad of colors reflected from the lights. The audience squealed, pointing at the sudden stage effects. Bubbles herself grinned approvingly, and playfully popped one as they danced.

The song was finally ending, the music slowed for the last time, and the two slowly began to descend downward. "_Yes I swear, it's the truth, and I owe it all to you_…" they slowly sang in perfect harmony, ending the song just as their feet touched the ground. The end of their performance was met with a standing ovation and deafening cheers from the audience.

But to Brick, the noise was just a faint background sound– all he could focus on was the girl in his arms. Their bodies pressed against each other, and he could easily feel where her skin was touching his.

Brick pulled her even closer, and whispered, "Forgive me?" She responded by leaning forward till their lips met, and in that moment, everything was perfect.

Bubbles finally pulled away and grinned, "Does that answer your question?" They were completely oblivious to the whistles that had erupted from the crowd. "Blossom explained everything," Bubbles continued. "I told her I refused to speak to her forever, but it's not working out well. I just can't stay mad."

"I know. You're just too sweet, too friendly, too loving," Brick praised, causing her to grin and blush.

"I could say the same for you, even though you try to hide it," Bubbles replied. "By the way, the actual bubbles, very nice touch."

"You can thank Boomer and Buttercup for those."

"So, should we get off this stage?" Bubbles asked, glancing at the crowd of students still staring at them.

"How 'bout one last kiss? A fan service," Brick suggested.

"I'd be very okay with that," Bubbles grinned.

–––

The End

* * *

><p><strong>Well there you have it! Brick and Bubbles are happily together and the whole school knows it. And Boomer showed the video to Butch, who decided to keep it as future blackmail. <strong>

**For anyone who's seen **_**Dirty Dancing**_**, that part where Brick lifts Bubbles up is modeled after the part where Johnny lifts Baby up, as it a lot of this scene (ie. the song _ which is a great song by the way.) Oh yeah, the song's called **_**(I've Had) The Time of My Life**_**. It's a great song.**

**Anyways, thank you so so sosososo much to everyone who read this and reviewed (and corrected me when I was wrong) and made me happy while I wrote it.**

**Now that I'm done with this, I'll probably focus more on **_**Changed**_**. And for any of you who like Harry Potter, I'm writing a fic called **_**Harry Potter: the Early Days**_** focusing on James, Lily, Snape, and somewhat the Marauders and other characters in that generation. Check it out if you have the time!**

**Bye, lovely people! 3**


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